Joe Arpaio Cuts Back on Inmate Visitation, Just in Time for Holidays

By Matthew Hendley Tue., Dec. 3 2013 at 6:00 AM

MCSO

Not the fat man you want to see around Christmas.

Just in time for the holidays, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office is cutting back on visitation for inmates of the county's six jails.

Both the number of weekly visits and the days available for visits were cut back, as of Sunday.

See also:
-Arpaio's Thanksgiving Meal for Inmates Sounds Horrific
Before now, inmates were allowed three 30-minute visits per week, which could take place on any day of the week but Fridays.

Effective Sunday, inmates get one 30-minute visit per week, and visitation can only take place on Sundays and Mondays, according to a public notice posted on the MCSO website.

"Additional visits may be approved by the Division Commander on a case-by-case basis," the notice says.

Legal visits aren't affected by the change according to the notice.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio's spokeswoman Lisa Allen tells New Times the change is being made "while we switch from one vendor to another vendor to update/improve MCSO's video visitation program."

MCSO

The video visitation system.

(Most "visits" are done over a video system that looks like something out of a bad 1980's sci-fi movie.)

"The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office firmly believes that visitation is an integral aspect of the jail system," according to MCSO's own website. "Sheriff's Office facilities receive hundreds of thousands of visitors per year, giving inmates something to look forward to, providing incentive for them to behave appropriately while incarcerated, and allowing them to maintain a necessary bond with family and friends."

In addition to these new restrictions, the Sheriff's Office also has bans "illegal aliens" from visiting anyone in jail, as well as anyone who's been convicted of a felony, or incarcerated over the last year, according to an MCSO document for families of people in the jails system.


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Joe Arpaio's Flunky Dave Trombi Tangles with Dennis Gilman, Gilman Wins (w/Video)

By Stephen Lemons Wed., Nov. 20 2013 at 12:04 PM

 

What if the MCSO had a community meeting and nobody came?
That's what happened recently when the MCSO held what it called a "community after-action meeting" in a lame attempt to comply with Judge G. Murray Snow's orders in the ACLU civil rights case Melendres v. Arpaio.
Videographer Dennis Gilman -- a better journalist than most in the Valley who get paid to play that role on and off TV -- attended the meeting held at a local library, and posted this YouTube report from the field.

 Watch as MCSO Deputy Chief Dave Trombi walks right into the proverbial punch
In an article that accompanied the video, Gilman writes:

Deputy Chief David Trombi and Captain Pat Lopez conducted the "community after-action meeting" on November 9th, which was a cynical attempt to comply with Judge Snow's orders. Community out-reach will soon be required by MCSO as will a monitor overseeing Arpaio's operations. Arpaio was absent because he had a parade he needed to be in, which was apparently more "exigent" than attending his own meeting. If you subtract media, Deputies, lawyers and the 8 protesters, only 3 people showed up for the meeting.
While the area of the sweep was announced as a 40 mile radius from Litchfield Park to 43rd Ave and Salt River to Camelback, legal observers witnessed no saturation activity in the mostly white and upper to middle class areas or near the murdered detention officer's home. Most stops were witnessed in the areas where minorities live and work.

Gilman's sarcastic mention of Arpaio's "exigent" circumstances references Judge Snow's requirement for a sweep until a monitor is in place.
"Exigent" is a fancy legal term that means some sort of emergency that threatens life or limb. And the MCSO has not been able to offer any "exigent" circumstances for the sweep it did on the west side in October.
The sheriff's office can't offer any because there were none.
Gilman gets Trombi in the crosshairs of his camera and asks him the difference between this sweep and all of the others the MCSO has done in the past, wherein the court has found the MCSO guilty of racial profiling.
As you can see for yourself, Trombi can't answer the question. And when another journalist asks about the exigency of doing the October sweep, Trombi plays dodge ball.
All of which is par for the course. Trombi does attempt an insult of Gilman, but ends up looking the fool, which you would think would teach these beige-shirted nudniks who not to mess with.
But they never learn.
Got a tip for The Bastard? Send it to: Stephen Lemons.

Gilbert Named One of the Top Cities in America for Conservatives to Live

By Matthew Hendley Tue., Nov. 5 2013 at 11:20 AM

 

Boston Public Library via Flickr

Gilbert is one of the best places in the United States for right-wingers to live, according to one analysis.

Estately, a real estate company, put together a formula to find the best cities in America for conservatives to live and ranked Gilbert (which technically is a town) ninth.

See also:
-Big Mormon Temple in Gilbert to Be Open for Public Tours
"We looked into recent voting trends, tax rates, business-friendly grades, locals who identify as 'highly religious,' gun-friendly laws, conservative local politicians, and more." Estately says. "Then we combined them with quality-of-life indicators like crime rate, commute times, housing prices, unemployment rate, and more."

Thanks to Arizona's gun laws, Maricopa County voters voting Republican, and Gilbert having a healthy number of Mormons living there, it's certainly not a surprise that Gilbert would land on such a list.

There is one small error on Estately's part:

Reasons Liberals Avoid It: Local Congressional Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ), who has an A rating by the NRA and 100 percent on The Heritage Foundation's scorecard (highest in Arizona).

Actually, all of Gilbert falls into Republican Congressman Matt Salmon's district. Salmon has just a 98 percent rating from the Heritage Foundation, and an A+ rating from the NRA.

Gilbert's low crime rate also was cited (although that's not really a stat that's specific to conservatives), as it had the lowest crime rate of any Arizona municipality with more than 100,000 residents last year, even when you include neo-Nazi quadruple-murderer J.T. Ready's crimes that occurred in the town last year.

Gilbert also lands on the list thanks to a local real estate agent who calls himself "the conservative's real estate agent." Seriously.

No other Arizona city made the top-13 list, which is topped by Oklahoma City.

Click here to check out the info on all the cities picked as top places for conservatives to live.

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