Joe Scarborough and the Technicolor Dreamcoat

I recently caught a bit of an interview from Scarborough Country, hosted by Joe Scarborough in which he was speaking to Curtis Sliwa of Guardian Angel fame and that apeshit crazy fool from Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Before I begin, let me just say that I have always felt that Sheriff Arpaio suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder. And in case you are not familiar with this insane motherfucker, he is the guy who runs the tent city jail in Arizona where everyone is issued pink undies.

Anyhow, I digress. To get back to this interview in which they were discussing the growing trend of cell phones being smuggled into prisons and jails all over the country, I felt that it was pretty bizarre that a member of law enforcement and a man who has intimate knowledge of jail operations could sit there and say that guards and cops play a very small part in prison and jail smuggling operations. Sheriff Arpaio really went out of his way to push the blame onto visitors and other non-law enforcement personnel as being the culprits when it comes to who is smuggling contraband into prisons and jails.

He gave an example which I believe to be highly unlikely but I suppose that it could be within the realm of probability but it would be a big reach. He claims to have caught an inmate who smuggled in thirteen packs of cigarettes concealed up his rectum. You heard me, thirteen packs of smokes stuffed up the old poop chute. I don't believe this but I was not there so I cannot fully disprove this story.

Obviously a lot of people who are doing time are very clever when it comes to trying to circumvent the laws of society and I acknowledge that on their own they are more than capable of finding ways of smuggling forbidden items into the jails and prisons. But it would be plain ignorant to believe that in a great many instances these inmates do not have the support of insiders, whether it be staff or guards or deputies. Think about this, most jails and prisons are closed environments. There is not ready access to the outside world. Only a limited amount of any contraband item can be brought in by an incoming prisoner. Yet our jails and prisons are overrun with drugs, cell phones and other items.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that this is due to corrupt prison and jail personnel. A common excuse that I hear is that these people are not being payed enough to deal with the riff raff that occupy our prisons. My response is this. It should not be an excuse that a guard or deputy takes to breaking the law just because they feel they are underpaid. I am sick of hearing about people in corrections and law enforcement cry about not being compensated for the work they do. The last time I checked, nobody is drafted into law enforcement or prison corrections, it is a voluntary choice to pursue that career path. And it is very easy to find out how much the pay is.

So if you make the conscious choice to become a corrections officer or law enforcement officer do not use the pay issue as an excuse if you are ever caught breaking the law. And perhaps Maricopa County, Arizona can spring for some psychiatric help for that crazy motherfucker, Joe Arpaio.