Sheriff revels in female chain gang's misery

Sydney Morning Herald ^ | November 1, 2003 | By Alan Elsner in Phoenix, Arizona

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Sheriff Joe Arpaio boasts that he runs the only all-female chain gang in history.

For the chief lawman of Maricopa County, Arizona, which includes the 3 million residents of Phoenix and its satellite cities and suburbs, presiding over the chain gang fits his self-declared image of being the toughest sheriff in America.

At 6am, 15 women assembled for chain gang duty, padlocked together by the ankle, five to each chain, and marched military style out to a van that took them to their work site - a county cemetery half an hour out of the city in the desert.

"The intent is humiliation" . . . Chain gang members are padlocked together at the
ankle before being marched to a van and driven to a work site.
Photos: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton

The women had to bury the bodies of indigents who had died in the streets or in hospital without family and without the money to pay for a funeral.

Father Bill Wack, a young Catholic priest, was waiting for them. He does not particularly appreciate having the chain gang help with the burials. "It's free labour and it's undignified. How is this helping to rehabilitate anyone?" he said.

The women all volunteered for chain gang duty to get out of lock-down, where four prisoners are shut in a cell 2.4 metres by 3.6 metres 23 hours a day. If they spend 30 days on the chain gang, picking up rubbish, weeding or burying bodies, they can get out of the punishment cells.

"It feels weird being seen in public, chained up together, wearing stripes. People honk their horns or shout at you," said Tylisha Chewning, who was jailed for violating probation after renting a car and failing to return it for two months.

Under Sheriff Arpaio, the 8000 inmates of the county jail system work seven days a week, are fed only twice a day, get no coffee, no cigarettes, no salt, pepper or ketchup and no organised recreation. Human rights groups regard it as the harshest jail system in the US.

They have to pay $US10 ($14) every time they need to see a nurse. If they want to write to their families, they have to use special postcards with the sheriff's picture on them. If their loved ones visit, they see them through thick plate glass or over a video link.

Most inmates are serving sentences of a year or less for relatively minor convictions or are awaiting trial because they could not raise bail.

Sheriff Arpaio, who was elected in 1992 promising to be tough on crime and who intends to seek a fourth term next year, said he wanted to start a chain gang for juveniles soon.

Critics say there was no evidence that chain gangs had any deterrent effect.

"The intent is humiliation of the inmates and political grandstanding for the public. It makes the sheriff look tough, and that's all it does," said Marc Mauer of the Sentencing Project, a Washington think-tank which promotes reduced reliance on incarceration in the justice system.

Reuters

[dead]

Boy, how disappointing is that picture?

I was really hoping for a Linda Blair and Pam Grier kinda scene.

[CFW]

Looks like a few of them could use the exercise.

[annyokie]

It's those stripes that make them look fat. ; )

[Semper Paratus]

Hey I've seen a number of "Women in Prison" movies and they don't look like that!

[mountaineer]

Indeed! Dear Mr. Sheriff, could we have vertical stripes on our unis? Thanks.

[Rebelbase]

"no salt, pepper or ketchup"

Now *that* borders on cruel!

[Probus]

I too, thought jail was supposed to be sexy, the ACLU said so.

I love this as well, "Father Bill Wack, a young Catholic priest, was waiting for them. He does not particularly appreciate having the chain gang help with the burials. "It's free labour and it's undignified. How is this helping to rehabilitate anyone?" he said."

It ain't about rehabilitation, it is about punishment and not wanting to go back to jail for your three squares, tv, and sleeping in all day.

[Dead Corpse]

Love the Title. No leftist spin at the Herald now is there?

Misery? Criminals deserve a little less comfort than the rest of us.

Also, I agree.... these women could really use the execise.

[chachacha]

Father Bill Wack, a young Catholic priest, was waiting for them. He does not particularly appreciate having the chain gang help with the burials. "It's free labour and it's undignified. How is this helping to rehabilitate anyone?" he said.

Hey Father! Maybe they'll hate it so much they'll pick the LORDS way over the Sheriffs.

[dead]

Love the Title. No leftist spin at the Herald now is there?

They’ve actually been getting worse in the last two years.

The NY Times must be sending trainers down under.

[annyokie]

I guess scarves and other accessories are out of the question, as well. ; )

[LoneConservative]

Oh, I LOOOVE this line...
"It feels weird being seen in public, chained up together, wearing stripes. People honk their horns or shout at you," said Tylisha Chewning, who was jailed for
violating probation after renting a car and failing to return it for two months."

She FAILED TO RETURN IT??? In ther words, she STOLE it...

[TheBigB]

[GovernmentShrinker]

Critics say there was no evidence that chain gangs had any deterrent effect.

. . . but can provide no statistics, such as comparative recidivism rates, to back up their claim.

[thinktwice]

Sheriff Joe Arpaio, an American legend.

"The inconvenience of these cells, which as we see, are not dungeons, is that they allow beings to reflect, who should be made to work." -- Victor Hugo, about "punishment" cells, Les Miserables, pp pg 966

[hardhead]

Sounds reasonable to me.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

Lots a poke in that picture. Love the Moe, Larry, and Curley jailbird stripes, too. Man, there must be some good eats in prison.

[cars for sale]

Sheriff Joe is flat out awesome
a true leader who pizzes the libs off hourly

[Sabatier]

I've seen these gals out working picking up litter and they aren't chained together and for safety they wear bright orange just like the county workers who do roadside maintenance. It's usually substantially cooler outside the city and the air is cleaner. I guess the story's spin is more dramatic than the facts.

[11th Earl of Mar]

Sounds like the makings of a good movie to me.

"What we have here is a failure to communicate," says the warden played by Pamela Anderson before disciplining an inmate.