Sheriff revels in female chain gang's misery

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

[ampat]

Your're right. They should sue the sheriff to be allowed to wear vertical stripes.

[ampat]

Well Done, Sheriff Arpaio. Now we can get the criminals to "pay" their debt to society with soom free labor. It should happen all over the country. Should be done with the big dig in MA.

[TADSLOS]

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.

Joe Arpaio gets it.

[ladyjane]

If they want to write to their families, they have to use special postcards with the sheriff's picture on them.

Now that's an idea.

[dead]

Oh, man – now I can’t make fun of them anymore:

Chain gang blues ... Maricopa County chain gang inmates Monique Cabrera, left,
and Sara Meikle weep during a burial service for an indigent baby at the county
cemetery near Phoenix, Arizona. The chaingang volunteers, who weed gardens,
pick up rubbish and bury bodies, are padlocked together at the ankle and marched to
work to avoid being locked in a 2x4m punishment cell 23 hours day.
Photo: Reuters

[HamiltonJay]

Lets see I commit a minor violation and get a few months hard labor or solitary, and I am not coddled and treated harshly... Hmmm...

You think that might keep me from committing a more significant violation, so I don't have to go back? Hmmmmm.... I know it would for me.

[SamAdams76]

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

Whether it does or not is not the point. The purpose of our prison system is to PUNISH those who break the law. Rehabilitation is a personal choice. Those who wish to turn their lives around rehabilitate and assimilate back into civilized society. Those who don't end up back in the slammer. Simple as that. Speaking for myself, if I was ever stuck in a chain gang like this, I'd make damn sure I never got in that situation again.

[af_vet_1981]

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

No you see, you is a card carrying member of some ethic or socio economic group for whom those rules don't apply.

No Justice, No Peace is the propaganda slogan.

Martha Stewart has applied for membership ...

[af_vet_1981]

No you see, you should read
No you see, she

[Xenalyte]

"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.

I don't know what's funnier - the name "Tylisha Chewning" or the fact that she drove a rent-a-car for two months.

[dead]

It's a tie.

[Xenalyte]

I think I've found my new alias . . . just in case the federales ever catch on to the true identity of Muffy Lopez.

[ZULU]

Some of Arapiao's ideas are good ones. This is not.

I assume anyone allowed on this kind of duty is no threat to society. Allowing them to work on public works projects should be a program to help them restore their sense of self worth and dignity, things that many minor criminals lack.

What I would like to see is gangsta tugs dressed in pink jumpsuits being forced to scrub off their graffiti with toothbrushes. THAT would make sense.

What are these people in their for in the first place???

[FeliciaCat]

No "Chained Heat" here, thats for sure! LOL.

The writer obviously does not understand the concept of "jail" or "punishment"....these women arent supposed to be at summer camp!

[narby]

I live in Sheriff Joe's home town, Fountian Hills AZ. I've been in the same resturant with him more than once.

The locals either love Joe, or hate him. With a slight balance in favor of him.

One thing is sure, he knows how to get publicity and play local politics. Which is where he makes his enemeys.

I've heard a few things that his department has done that are a bit over the top. Like arresting a guy for dressing as a highway patrolman (impersonating an officer) at a halloween party last year. Of course, there's no way anyone believed that bit, because the guy wasn't wearing pants, only Sheriff Joes famous "pink underwear" (given to inmates). The guy was an actor who did the voice of "Joe Arizona" in a political adds for an issue that the sheriff didn't support. It's pretty obvious he was targeted.

[battousai]

Wow can't believe he can actually get away with this without the ACLU or some other leftist "love the criminals" group hounding him.

Good for him, better vote him back in!

[Oatka]

Alan Elsner is a national correspondent for Reuters, who can probably teach the NYT a few tricks.

Plug his name into Google and see how many leftist or touchy-feely articles this guy has written.

Much as I like what this sheriff is doing, the singling out of that one guy, mentoned in post #35 leads me to believe he's getting too full of himself.

I'd hate to see him overstep and get brought down - the liberals would throw a national holiday.

[dead]

What are these people in their for in the first place???

Tylisha Chewning is the only one whose crime is mentioned. She violated her probation by “renting a car and failing to return it for two months” (that’s a Reutersism for “stealing a car”). They don’t say why she was on parole in the first place.

These woman volunteer for this duty to get out of “lockdown.” I assume you have to be up to no good while in prison to get put in “lockdown” in the first place.

I don’t think these are generally tax cheats and shoplifters.

[Pagey]

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.

That's the way it should be.Way to go Arizona! Now, could you do something about the illegals coming over the AZ/Calif. border? (snickers)

[tracer]

One would think that Arpaio would be bright enough to know that bad things happen when one "makes it personal." And he has been doing so for years.

Even the Mafia had a "code of honor" which prohibited the whacking of a cop, prosecutor, or judge for "just doing their job." But history has shown that shocking things happen when the line is crossed.

Not to mention that drug dealers, crack-whores, and other less "professional" operatives are not bound by such a "code."

I suspect that sooner rather than later old Joe will go missing and will re-emerge, if at all, as an incomplete pile of bones under the desert sun or in a shallow grave.

It never pays to play the smart-ass to uninhibited persons with long memories and little or nothing to lose....