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The funny thing is that I agree with all of the above. Dammit, these people are criminals and do not need 200 cable channels on the television. Our guys and gals fighting overseas do not have air conditioning, why should they?

On and on we have gotten used to mollycoddling prisoners. The above poster is more than correct. I have a very good friend who spent 30 days in "tent city" and he tells me really difficult stories about his time there. Grown men fighting over scraps of moldy food and so on, things that are not correct. I agree with not feeding them steak but they deserve "3 squares and a cot" but thats it. Make it uncomfortable in there so that they think twice the next time they think about doing something stupid.

We can have both an honest Sheriff and good system behind him. Just need to find the right person, then people to back him up.

huh? Volunteer labor......me doubts it.

Using prisoners to accomplish work sounds good if you don't think about it very long. In my state, there is a Board that oversees these decisions. Some programs make more sense than others. Ideally, these folks "graduate" with a marketable skill.

In this animal shelter story, a number of people lost their jobs. Should the population of inmates in a prison have lower unemployment rates than folks who have not committed crimes and are looking for work? Want a job? Rob a liquor store. And then there is the problem of having some guy, in this case Joe Arpaio, pimping free labor to whoever pads his coffers best?

maybe the prisoners have a better UNION rep.

Rika

Sounds like this boy from Florida has some first-hand experience...

I've heard Sheriff Joe's chain gangs are a big hit, really. It's actually a privilege to get on one since the prisoners get outside the perimeter for a while. Nothing wrong at all with making prisoners repay a debt to society. It's standard in every state to pay a tiny fraction of minimum wage for prison labor. Why not? They're already getting free room and board.

When I was in high school, making $3.35 an hour, living with parents, no car, no bills, I had more money than I knew what to do with. Seems $.28 an hour is just about enough to cover cigarettes for the week. What else can they buy?

Exactly. I don't recall reading that this was a mandatory program. If an inmate prefers to sit in his 125-degree tent in the middle of July, I'm sure he's welcome to do so.

Anything that can prevent recidivism is a good idea, IMHO. It's responsible for a huge portion of the burden on the prison system. Not to mention the fact that there are tens of thousands of animals out there who need help/care/compassion.

I don't see any losers in this one as long as a watchful eye is kept on it to prevent abuse or inmates helping themselves to medical supplies, etc. Great idea overall. A few implementation hurdles, but nice to see.

Nobody ever seemed to b*tch when inmates were used to make license plates, right? This allows them to get "better" job skills and (as has been said) shows them that they can make a positive difference in the world if they want to.

If you want to get into a discussion about "slave labor" (that's not voluntary), we can always start talking about the Chinese. . .

What an awesome guy. A rarity in this day and age to take charge and not "overthink" every solution.

Originally Posted by URY914
How do you spend $18m on stray animals?

You want Rammstein's political belief system? Read above!

Seriously, I saw one of those "Inside the Prison" shows about a prison where the warden let them have cats. Having an animal to care for built up parts of these convicts' hearts and emotions that had never existed before. Apparently, it kept violence down on the inside as well, and as a bonus it gave stray cats who would have been euthanized a second chance.

If I were a convict, I would be first in line to go work in an animal shelter. Who wants to sit in a cell all day?

Again, the reason you're not seeing a potential problem here is that you're not looking deep enough. I'm in a hurry so I won't be able to do this justice but I've seen this "inmate labor" thing many times. The guy in charge of the program winds up with a very valuable service to pimp. Graft happens. The inmates find prison even more fun than before, which does not help rescitivism. And when the inmates start taking on things like asbestos abatement, as they did here in my state, an association of asbestos abatement contractors will point out that it is their work that is being undercut. Some of them will go out of business. Their labor unions will be their partners in this public dispute. Inmate Labor looks cute if you only see the surface. Gotta go.

DO ARIZONA..............................and DO TIME! i cannot comment here. i played football with dave hendershott(#2) and larry black (#3) at brophy prep.

all i can say.............is this novembers election will be a ******* HOOT TO WATCH!

i can promise you that the rank and file cops that have aligned themselves with joe dave and larry if joe doesnt get elected, will be summarily FIRED by whomever gets elected. ie. a hell of alot of job openings!!!!!

Yes, Supe, but shouldn't adequate government regulation cure all of that? ;)

Animal control is not a consumer driven industry, it's a nuisance industry. I'm not too worried about public employees having to find other positions.

We have the state Corrections Center for Women not far from us. They have the "Prison Pet Partnership Program", which is simply a boarding house for dogs. Very popular- You need to get a reservation pretty far in advance.

We used it once when we went on a vacation, and when we returned, our dog was not even excited to see us! She had never been treated as nice, or recieved as much attention as what the inmates heaped on her.

I'm all for this program. Good for the inmates, good for the budget.

Totally agree with you on this one. Inmate labor has been around for decades, and IMHO, should be around for many more to come.

I don't recall seeing or hearing anyone b!tching about the folks in their orange jumpsuits picking up the trash alongside the freeways, either! Sure, it's not teaching them a skill, but it's definitely providing a valuable service to the communities.

Randy

those people did not do anything illegal, and that is sort of an insulting comparison, nicely done

Superman, why is it always about the impact on the labor unions with you?

Sorry, that was a rhetorical question I could not resist including.

Don't know about Sheriff Joe personally, but I like everything in the article...but think he is still a little too easy on the criminals.

You know to some degree, I agree wholeheartedly. The problem that I've seen however (at least in the case of the local sheriff that I referred to earlier), is that "power" seems to currupt some departments like this and before you know it, they are totally out of control.

you are right...but alot were started as criminal camps for tose who broke laws...we only remember history we want to remember...not always how it happened and that is how it started in Germany, as camps for criminals and people who broke laws(even if WE don't agree, they had LAWS against things such as interreligious marriage, buying goods from jewish stores etc)

I am not by any means condoning it, but it is a sad path that we are following now.
We as a nation have statrted down the same path as Germany in the early 30's...and people are too blind to see it
compare the patriot act to the richstag decree...
compare the Gestapo to our own various Gubmit agencies that have powqers to detain and hold...have secret trials....it isn't much different

I happen to work with a man who fled germany in 1935 as a young man only to go back to fight them in the US army. He says it is a very similar state we are in...he shakes his head and says he is too old to do anything this time...and that it will happen again all too soon
sad...very sad