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Sheriff Joe is the Maricopa Arizona County Sheriff who keeps getting re-elected over and over again.

Here are some of the reasons why:

He started chain gangs, which contribute thousands of dollars of free labor to the community. The male chain gang, and the world’s first-ever female and juvenile chain gangs, clean streets, paint over graffiti, and bury the indigent in the county cemetery. (He started chain gangs for women so he wouldn’t get sued for discrimination after starting chain gangs for men).

He started a tent city and makes the inmates sleep in them when out working. When inmates complain about the heat in the tents and out in the fields Sheriff Joe says “It’s 120 degrees in Iraq and our soldiers are living in tents too, and they have to wear full battle gear, but they didn’t commit any crimes, so shut your mouths!”

After learning of the calming, psychological effects of the color pink—he had prison cells painted pink and the inmates now use pink sheets, towels, & socks— in fact, everything the inmates wear, except for the old-fashioned black and white striped uniform, were dyed pink.

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

He stopped smoking and porno magazines in the jails.

Took away their weights.

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 let in the Disney channel and the Weather channel.

When asked why the weather channel, he replied, “So they will know how hot it’s gonna be while they are working on my chain gangs.”

Cut off all but ‘G’ movies.

He cut off coffee since it has zero nutritional value.

When the inmates complained, he told them, “This isn’t The Ritz/Carlton…… If you don’t like it, don’t come back.”

Finally, Maricopa County was spending approx. $18 million dollars a year on stray animals, like cats and dogs. Not anymore.

Sheriff Joe offered to take the department over, and the County Supervisors said okay. The animal shelters are now all staffed and operated by prisoners. They feed and care for the strays. Every animal in his care is taken out and walked twice daily. He now has prisoners who are experts in animal nutrition and behavior. They give great classes for anyone who’d like to adopt an animal. He has literally taken stray dog s off the street, given them to the care of prisoners, and had them place in dog shows. The best part? His budget for the entire department is now under $3 million. The prisoners get the benefit of about $0.28 an hour for working, but most would work for free, just to be out of their cells for the day.

Most of his budget is for utilities, building maintenance, etc.

Makes you think: Maybe if all prisons were like this one there would be a lot less crime and/or repeat offenders. Criminals should not live in luxury until it’s time for their parole, only to go out and commit another crime so they can get back in to live on taxpayers’ money and enjoy things taxpayers can’t afford to have for themselves.