Joe Arpaio, Arizona Sheriff, Bans Meat From Maricopa County Jail
Controversial Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio is known for his aggressive stances and strict jail policies, and now he is making yet another change: no more meat in his jail.
The Maricopa County sheriff, who has been accused of discrimination and has been sued on multiple occasions, said the move to eliminate meat would save the jail $100,000 a year. He promoted his new policy by dressing up as a chef and making an appearance on Fox television. The 81-year-old cooked a vegetable "stew-like" dish.
"It looks great. It looks like stew," Arpaio said on the show. "I'm getting hungry."
The cost of food is apparently not a new problem in the Maricopa jail system. Arpaio also gained media attention in February when his jail system was about to become the first in the nation to require inmates to pay for food to offset the costs.
"Everybody else has to pay for food, why should they [inmates] get freebies," Arpaio said, according to ABC 15.
Arpaio said inmates would be charged $1 a day and that it would be taken out of their jail accounts where family members often contribute.
"The food banks are hurting, they're not getting donations and we are not getting the donations we used to," he said. "A dollar a day isn't that much, I mean that's what it costs to feed the inmates now."
"We're going to make sure we use that money before they [inmates] go to the canteen to buy some chocolate bars."
Most recently, Arpaio was in the news for implementing a new gun rule for police officers in his county. All cops now must carry a firearm with them 24/7, even when off-duty.