Chain Gang Sighting

I live in the Wild West (aka Phoenix) and we often see an unusual sight around our neighborhood and community.  Chain Gangs.  No, they aren't actors, they're the real deal.  Here in Phoenix our Sheriff Joe Arpaio has made many interesting changes to the criminal system in order to reduce crime.  One being inmates wearing black and white striped uniforms.  Another being a huge tent-city jail out in the desert where inmates live in tents that get up to 140 degrees in the summer.  He  reduced their meals to 2x a day, took away coffee (the horror!) porn and tv (except rated G and the weather channel) and makes the men wear pink underwear.  And finally the chain gang.  

The inmates are chained together on the sides of the road doing odd jobs, usually picking up trash.  There are gun holding officers standing close by and looking threatening.  They also bring a port-a-potty that is towed behind the jail bus.  It makes quite a sight!  This photo was taken by a neighbor this morning, we saw the same crew on our way to run errands.

My inquisitive almost 5-yr-old has many questions as you can imagine.  She usually likes to guess why they are in jail.  Today's guess was that they stole dog food.  

Sheriff Arpaio has been in office for almost 20 years.  I haven't lived here that long but from what I can tell you either love him or hate him.  He seems to keep getting re-elected so I guess the majority must love him.  He's up for re-election next month and I'll leave you with one of the slogans I saw on a big campaign sign recently.

"Been robbed?  No?  Then vote to re-elect Joe Arpaio"

Ha!