h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Sheriff Joe Arpaio created the "tent city jail" to save Arizona from spending tens of million of dollars on another expensive prison complex.

He has jail meals down to 40 cents a serving and charges the inmates for them.

He banned smoking and porno magazines in the jails, and took away their weightlifting equipment and cut off all but "G" movies. He says: "they're in jail to pay a debt to society not to build muscles so they can assault innocent people when they leave."

He started chain gangs to use the inmates to do free work on county and city projects and save taxpayer's money.

Then he started chain gangs for women so he wouldn't get sued for discrimination.

He took away cable TV until he found out there was a federal court order that required cable TV for jails. So he hooked up the cable TV again, but only allows the Disney channel and the weather channel.

When asked why the weather channel he replied: "so these morons will know how hot it's gonna be while they are working on my chain gangs."

He cut off coffee because it has zero nutritional value and is therefore a waste of taxpayer money. When the inmates complained, he told them, "This isn't the Ritz/Carlton. If you don't like it, don't come back."

He also bought the Newt Gingrich lecture series on US history that he pipes into the jails. When asked by a reporter if he had any lecture series by a Democrat, he replied that a democratic lecture series that actually tells the truth for a change would be welcome and that it might even explain why 95% of the inmates were in his jails in the first place.

With temperatures being even hotter than usual in Phoenix (116 degrees set a new record for June 2nd), the Associated Press reported: About 2,000 inmates living in a barbed- wire-surrounded tent encampment at the Maricopa County Jail have been given permission to strip down to their government-issued pink boxer shorts. On Wednesday, hundreds of men wearing pink boxer shorts were chatting in the tents, where temperatures reached 128 degrees. "This is hell. It feels like we live in a furnace," said Ernesto Gonzales, an inmate for 2 years with 10 more to go. "It's inhumane."

Joe Arpaio, who makes his prisoners wear pink, and eat bologna sandwiches, is not one bit sympathetic. "Criminals should be punished for their crimes not live in luxury until it's time for parole, only to go out and commit more crimes so they can come back in to live on taxpayers money and enjoy things many taxpayers can't afford to have for themselves."

Wednesday he told all the inmates who were complaining of the heat in the tents: "It's between 120 to 130 degrees in Iraq and our soldiers are living in tents too, and they have to walk all day in the sun, wearing full battle gear and get shot at, and they have not committed any crimes, so shut your damned mouths!"

Way to go, Sheriff! If all prisons were like yours there would be a lot less crime and we would not be in the current position of running out of prison spaces.

If you agree, pass this on. If not, just delete it, but do realize we get the society we deserve!!

Sheriff Joe was just re-elected Sheriff in Maricopa County, Arizona release Date: 04/02/2007

I wonder if he has any brothers or first cousins, ... that might like Canada?

It'll never happen here. Mainly because, although we may have many inmates who might benefit from such treatment, we also have many who have been criminalised for the most ridiculous reasons. As well as many mentally ill who should actually be in a hospital.

Perhaps if such schemes were voluntary for some crimes and knocked 50% off a sentence.

You're right, of course. Some ideas seem so simple and right at first blush. Like my perspective that everyone should be obligated to serve atleast a 3-year military stint. Learning skills, comraderie, co-operation ... so many things. But then of course, not everyone could do even that short of a time.

I think military service would have been the end of me! But then, I'd have been a different person so maybe not.

Mind you, should anybody have the right to have made me a different person?

Philosophical mine field so it be.

I know so many people that it would have done some good for. But as I said, it isn't for everyone. I know that one of my 3 brothers would not have made it through recruit training ... He simply is not that strong of will or character.

In a lot of ways, schools in the 1950's were not so different from modern basic training. Even in the 1980's, my transition from school to RN felt like moving to how I imagined boarding school would be in many respects.

Many people would say that education is a lot different now because society has changed. I just wonder if it's maybe the other way around - society has changed because education has changed.

Excuse me if I generalise, but this is purely my opinion. Education used to be partly about getting the child ready for society and emphasised working together - hence team sports, larger class sizes, learning by rote. It seems nowadays the emphasis is upon the individual needs of the pupil and team sports and group work has been largely (but not totally) left by the wayside. Maybe this has led to the "me, me, me" society we now have.

Similarly, prison appears to be aimed at rehabilitating the individual and respecting individual human rights. Well, it’s certainly a point of view, but I wonder what re-offending rates are now compared with the 50’s?

It would be hard to say without knowing how detection rates compare. Obvious point but we don't even know what the re-offending rate is *now*, we only know how many re-offenders get caught.

My school had a fairly traditional approach to education and discipline. I think the latter worked better than the former: there wasn't much trouble but there wasn't much that fired the imagination and enthusiasm either.

There's also the fact that so many new crimes exist now and the motivation to commit crimes has changed. There wasn't really a drug problem in the 50s after all.

But the Joe Arpaio route is oh-so-tempting with some of the scum. Would a white racist still feel the same if he was chained 24/7 to a black guy for 10 years? (or vice versa)