Baca vs Arpaio, Sheriffs Debate Who’s Got Tougher Jails? #VB36
Los Angeles, CA. Arizona’s Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and L. A. County Sheriff Leroy Baca take each other to task over how they must deal with operating their respective jail systems in a seven minute Full Disclosure Network® video news blog.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio is often referred to as “the Toughest Sheriff in America” because he houses jail inmates in Korean war tents on the desert in temperatures that reach up to 140 degrees in the summer time. In this video he boasts about spending only 30 cents a day, per inmate, for meals saying he hopes they will never come back to jail once released. He challenges Sheriff Baca’s early release program by inviting him to send the overflow of inmates from L. A. to Maricopa County where he proudly displays a vacancy sign and promotes the austere accomodations for the 10,000 plus inmates in his jails.
Sheriff Baca points out that criminals in Los Angeles county jails are tougher and more violent and make Sheriff Joe’s jails look like a “summer camp”. Baca points out that in L.A. County jails there are 1,200 murderers waiting for trial and 4,000 gang members who commit 500 murders a year. Baca also says that Sheriff Joe’scriminals are mild compared to those in L. A., that they have committed lesser offenses and are not the hard core criminals such as in Los Angeles County jails.
This short video news blog demonstrates the striking contrast in policies and attitude in Arizona and California. The Sheriffs offer their own rationalization for circumstances in their jails. At the close of the video news blog viewers are asked to participate in a survey on which policies are best.
The Full Disclosure® program is billed as “the news behind the news.” In 2002 host Leslie Dutton was presented with a local public affairs Emmy by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for the series entitled “L.A.’s War Against Terrorism”. Dutton has been conducting interviews for the past fourteen years with local, state and national law enforcement officials in order to inform the public on critical police policies and procedures.
