AZ's Toughest Sheriff Honored by Animal Group

RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 12:56 am

This is Arizona's very controversial sheriff, Joe Arpaio. He's known for being very tough on his prisoners and doing things like making them wear pink underwear and feeding them on ten cent bologna sandwiches. No frills here.

IDA is "In Defense of Animals."

"America's Toughest Sheriff" has a heart for needy animals

IDA's Guardian of the Month for July 2007, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, is that rare breed of lawman who makes a special effort to serve and protect animals as well as people.

As Sheriff of Maricopa County, Ariz., Arpaio has been called "America's Toughest Sheriff." Heading up the third largest Sheriff's Office in the U.S. (which includes a jail system with over 10,000 inmates) is no easy task, but Arpaio has been meeting the challenge since 1993, having been re-elected to an unprecedented four terms. His popularity rests on his approach to rehabilitation and programs for preventing recidivism, as well as the unique concern he shows for animals.

In 2000, Sheriff Arpaio even converted one large jail into a shelter where abused and abandoned animals can find sanctuary. He created the no-kill MASH unit, located at First Avenue and Madison Street in Phoenix, after inmates sabotaged the plumbing in their cells. Sheriff Arpaio moved the convicts out of the building and into the nation's largest "Tent City," where 2000 people now live. He then moved dogs, cats, goats, chickens, rabbits, and other animals inside.

With the capacity to hold 300 animals, each dog has his or her own "room" (actually a redecorated jail cell) while cats live several to a cage. All of the animals are spayed or neutered and receive standard inoculations. Unlike the prisoners' Tent City nearby, the shelter is air conditioned to protect animals from the blistering Southwest heat. Female inmates provide care for the animals as part of an employment skills training program that may provide them with animal care jobs upon release.

Many animals in the MASH unit are seized as "evidence" in arrests, or because they were abused or neglected by their guardians. Depending on the court's ruling, which can take weeks or months, animals are either returned to their caretakers or adopted out to new homes. The shelter also boards animals whose guardians cannot take them to domestic violence shelters, and accepts animals from other Maricopa County animal shelters.

Sheriff Arpaio has spoken out for farmed animals as well, starring in a public service announcement in favor of the voter initiative to ban gestation crates for pregnant pigs in Arizona (which passed last year). He has also been outspoken about the link between animal cruelty and violence against human victims. "We know from history that every serial killer started out abusing animals," he told Best Friends News. "I had an executive of a big company murdered. He was taken out into the desert by three people for no reason and killed. After we caught them, we found out the shooter had killed his neighbor's cats."

This is the second time that IDA has honored Sheriff Arpaio. In 2005, we awarded him our prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. Other recipients have included some of the most renowned advocates for animals and the environment in the world, such as environmentalist David Brower, labor leader Cesar Chavez, and primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall. IDA proudly honors Sheriff Joe Arpaio again as our Guardian of the Month for July 2007.

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RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 9:45 am

AngelEyes82;654435 wrote: I can't stand the guy!

I hope he loses the next vote..

Damn his sun city posse! :-5

Why do you dislike him so, Susie?

RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 1:31 pm

Oh that's really poor of him!

I've never met him, but so far I've supported his ways from what I've read. But if he were arrogant, I'd not care for him much.

RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 8:56 pm

:wah:

Magenta, how would you know? You don't live in Arizona! Why would you think that?

RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 9:42 pm

Well, did you think the ex prisoners were going to speak well of him?

A lot of people don't like Tent City or the bolgna sandwiches etc, so I'm not surprised. I do like it though and I have read much on him yet have so far not seen anything I had a problem with. I see nothing inhumane and I doubt Arpaio said that's what he wanted. Or maybe if he did outright say that, you could point me to a link.

As for the animals well Arpaio has addressed that himself when he said "the dogs didn't do anything wrong."

RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 9:51 pm

Yes, I'm fine with it and would like to see a whole lot more Joe Arpaios around.

Any time you take a serious enough stand, you're going to have detractors and even people who will hate you for what you do.

I do take exception to the notion that dogs in the pound are treated better than the crminals in Tent City. If you could see the state of pounds out here, you might not have said that. They are dismal.

Is Tent City your main concern or if not, what are some others you have?

RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 10:06 pm

Thanks for the linkage, I had seen Arpaio.com before and could never take it seriously, still can't, but I hadn't seen the other ones before.

I will say I disagree with fingerprinting traffic violators, I totally disagree with drug testing school kids, and I don't understand the problem with face scanners unless it's the lack of privacy, in which in the case of sex offenders, I don't care.

I have no problem with pink underwear. The reason he did that was because (who knows why) prisoners were stealing underwear so he issued the pink ones, because what *man* would want to wear pink drawers? It stopped the theft problem.

I am fine with striped prison suits. Out here they wear pilon orange, so you can identify them if they skip, so what's inhumane about black and white stripes? Thats' what they wore even 50 years ago, it's not new.

While he doesn't believe in lush meals, I highly doubt that he serves rat head stew, moldy bread and rotten food. I just plain don't believe that. I would have to see it first.

I don't have a problem with women chain gangs, if that's even accurate. I'm not pretending women are delicate flowers and can't handle the work.

I am waiting to read about complaints of him beating prisoners or starving them? Where are those? Now that kind of stuff would be inhumane and I would balk at it. But not this other stuff.

As for the temp, we live in Arizona! Most of the convicts do too and are used to 100 degree temperatures. If I can be outside all day in 116 degree heat working, then I know a convict can be in a shady tent in the same and do all right.

I guess you can sum up my sentiment in that I agree with Arpaio's remark about "it's tough and if you don't like it you don't come back." If we had that everywhere, we would have far less repetitive crime.

That's my take so far...refreshing now to see if you have any more links and stuff...

Good conversation. I think we're the only ones on here tonight just about.

RedGlitter · Post by **RedGlitter** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 10:08 pm

magenta flame;654907 wrote: the fact that inmates die whilst being punished and he exonerates himself and his officers all the time. where not talking about dying because another inmate has stabbed them we're talking of prison officers killing them through so callled prison punishments.

Did I miss this part? I didn't see that anywhere. I'd have to see it. I don't agree with police brutality but i would have to see some proof somewhere.

The police department going against him doesn't faze me because the police department is a corrupt institution anyway, at least out here.