Arizona’s Sheriff Joe Ordered, Again, to Improve His Abusive Jails

Marizopa County, Arizona’s
Sheriff Joe Arpaio loves grandstanding—and much of his routine is
made for TV. His chain gangs
wear black and white striped uniforms, just like in old movies, his
prisoners are issued pink underwear “sure to
offend the tender male ego” as his office boasts, and his world
famous “tent city”
jail is available for tours (adults only, no more than five per
group, please). But his office has also been guilty of a litany of
shenanigans, including
stealing documents from a defense attorney,
arresting critical journalists,
spying on political opponents—and maintaining such lousy jail
conditions that they violate inmates’ rights.

In fact, U.S. District Judge Neil V. Wake has
yet again, in an
ongoing saga,
told Sheriff Joe to offer decent medical care to the prisoners
in his care.

Defendants now have at least one medical provider and additional
mental health staff assigned to the Jail’s intake center 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week. But they have not shown they have resolved
systemic deficiencies in providing pretrial detainees timely
face-to-face assessment by medical and mental health providers for
serious acute or chronic complex conditions.

Judge Wake noted that county officials have made some
improvements since the last time he noted that they weren’t
complying with his order to improve conditions, but that “some of
the new practices were begun only a few days before” they asked to
be released from court superviion.

Note that the original judgment against the county dates to
1995, the jails
lost their national accreditation because of conditions in
2008, it’s now 2014, and Sheriff Joe and company are still dragging
their heels over a court order to improve the treatment of
inmates.

The ACLU of Arizona has more
here.