PHOENIX, ARIZ. -- In 1993, former Marciopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio took old tents and cots donated by the U.S. Department of Defense and created a notorious outdoor jail in the desert known as Tent City, which Amnesty International condemned in 1997 as violating basic standards of human rights.
It’s now in the process of closing, because unlike Arpaio’s claims about how much money Tent City saved taxpayers over the alternative -- building a new jail -- new Sheriff Paul Penzone has found it’s actually been wasting taxpayers money.
Tent City & Taxpayers Money
In 2011, Corrections1 asked Arpaio about the Tent City he built in 1993, and he claimed it saves taxpayers millions:
“CorrectionsOne: But you’ve had civil rights complaints leveled against you. For instance, critics say keeping inmates in tent cities in the desert heat is not humane.
Arpaio: We don’t run a Hilton Hotel. I slept with my inmates twice in the tents. We have service people fighting for our country living in tents. Why can’t they (the inmates)? Those tents were free! They’re Korean War issued tents. It costs $80 to 90 million dollars to build a jail, so I’ve saved taxpayers millions!”
In November 2016, Arpaio was voted out of Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO). Penzone ran for sheriff on a platform of improving both public safety and fiscal responsibility, a note that may have registered with voters concerned about the old sheriff’s rising legal costs.
By April, Penzone announced that Tent City had become a liability, and that closing it would save the county approximately $4.5 million a year, according to AZCentral.
At the time, Arpaio was facing misdemeanor charges and contempt of court after being ordered in a 2011 racial profiling case to stop immigration patrols and failing to for at least 17 months. He was recently convicted by a federal judge in criminal court, and he could be sentenced to six months in prison.
Penzone said at the outset that the decision to close Tent City would be a data-driven one, and he appointed a committee to initiate the review process. The committee conducted the review, and recommended closing it.
Tent City “is not a crime deterrent, it is not cost efficient, and it is not tough on criminals,” Penzone announced in April.
Closing Tent City is Better for Corrections Officers
Penzone also said the closure would reduce overtime shifts and address staffing shortages at the county’s indoor correctional facilities. He also pledged to establish a clear path and process for MCSO pay raises, and career advancement.
Arpaio opted against closing the controversial facility in 2016, and MCSO suggested budget shortfalls be covered instead by cuts in pay raises for detention staff and other programs.
He’d been photographed a number of times at the open-air facility, such as when he reduced inmate meals from three times per day to twice per day. And in 2015 with Pam Anderson, a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals activist, to come help announce vegetarian-only meals.
According to Phoenix New Times in 2010, in a video from a private event that the writer had seen, Arpaio once referred to Tent City as a “concentration camp.” But:
Tent City is coming down. The pink underwear has been put away. The battle tank went back to the Department of Defense where it belongs,” Penzone had said during the closure announcement.
Workers are dismantling the last tent standing at Tent City today. pic.twitter.com/5cdY11XxXn
— Maricopa Sheriff (@MaricopaSheriff) June 7, 2017
The process of transferring the 800 inmates was expected to take up to six months, however, and in late June, MCSO encountered a heat wave reaching temperatures up to 119 degrees.
