PHOENIX, AZ — Joe Arpaio, the former Maricopa County sheriff who was convicted of federal contempt-of-court charges in 2017 for racially profiling Latinos and then pardoned by President Trump, wants his old job back.
The now 87-year-old Arpaio announced his intention on Sunday, the second anniversary of Trump’s pardon. “Watch out world! We are back!” he wrote, pledging to bring back some of the extreme policies that earned him the reputation as “America’s toughest sheriff.”
“I will continue to stand and fight to do the right thing for Arizona and America, and will never surrender,” Arpaio wrote in his announcement. “Those who break the law will have to deal with this sheriff.”
Among the most controversial of the policies Arpaio pledged to revive was the “Tent City Jail,” an outdoor encampment for inmates in triple-digit temperatures that he once referred to as a “concentration camp.” He also forced inmates in his jail to wear pink underwear and fed inmates Nutraloaf, a 15-cent meal used as a disciplinary measure in other prisons, only twice a day.
Mark JM
Article URL : https://patch.com/arizona/phoenix/joe-arpaio-america-s-toughest-sheriff-wants-his-old-job-back