‘Toughest’ sheriff? That’s ‘garbage’

If I hear Joe Arpaio called the “toughest sheriff” one more time, I am going to scream! There are a lot of names this sadist who hid behind his badge might be called, but “toughest” is not one of them. Cruelty is not toughness.

Prisons are supposed to be for rehabilitation, not for punishment. Does keeping inmates in un-air-conditioned tents with temperatures up to 140 degrees inside, wearing pink underwear, parading them through streets to be jeered at, making them wear black-and white convict uniforms, working on chain gangs, feeding an inmate on 60 cents a day smack of anything but cruelty?

Criminals are people who have gone wrong, but who are still human beings. Treating them like animals is not praiseworthy. The well-to-do white community which kept electing Arpaio evidently does not realize that 85 percent of these imprisoned victims will be back on the street someday, un-rehabilitated, and with some deep attitude problems for the cruel and demeaning treatment they received.

Call him a racist, sadist, neo-Nazi, liar, criminal, monster, un-American psycho, or what you will, but let’s hear no more of this “toughest sheriff” garbage!

This story was originally published October 6, 2017 at 3:52 PM with the headline "‘Toughest’ sheriff? That’s ‘garbage’."