Paul Penzone Took Over Today As Maricopa County Sheriff. (closing, live in)

[adriver]

Paul Penzone has been sworn in. There are several stories out there about his past. I personally am not trying to restrict this to his new career, but I will start with the first problem I have with him;

"He will decide on tent city after a full evaluation."

Tent city has been around for 20 years, and was pretty much Sherriff Joe's defining signature of his career in office. I have never been, but I think anyone who has been here for a little while knows the inmates; live in tents, eat meals that cost pennies, and wear pink underclothes to be as cheap as possible. HOW ON EARTH, is he truly not informed enough on this as to whether or not he will close it???

IMO it puts a really bad taste in my mouth as to his competence and readiness to do the job.

[Voebe]

He can't possibly be worse, eh?

[JGMotorsport64]

You're mad he wants to evaluate before acting? I'm sure there is information we aren't privy to and he wasn't until just now.

The last one made us pay for his Hawaii vacation.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by adriver

Paul Penzone has been sworn in. There are several stories out there about his past. I personally am not trying to restrict this to his new career, but I will start with the first problem I have with him;

"He will decide on tent city after a full evaluation."

Tent city has been around for 20 years, and was pretty much Sherriff Joe's defining signature of his career in office. I have never been, but I think anyone who has been here for a little while knows the inmates; live in tents, eat meals that cost pennies, and wear pink underclothes to be as cheap as possible. HOW ON EARTH, is he truly not informed enough on this as to whether or not he will close it???

IMO it puts a really bad taste in my mouth as to his competence and readiness to do the job.

I don't have a problem with any new office holder taking the time to look at information NOT readily available to you or anyone else outside the office, including himself before a few days ago, before taking action in a completely non-urgent situation. I rather like that in a chief law enforcement officer.

[Zippyman]

Pretty sure there has been info published that states that tent city is both unnecessary & more expensive to run than it's worth. 20 years ago tent city was an "alternative" to building a new jail, now we have plenty of actual jail space & tent city is (and has been) nothing more than an expensive talking point.

Sheriff Joe didn't "save" the taxpayers any money. Whatever money was "saved" with green Bologna was made up for in spades with unnecessary lawsuit settlements & "miss spending" - we're talking hundreds of millions of dollars here, not some tiny disputable amount.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by Zippyman

Pretty sure there has been info published that states that tent city is both unnecessary & more expensive to run than it's worth. 20 years ago tent city was an "alternative" to building a new jail, now we have plenty of actual jail space & tent city is (and has been) nothing more than an expensive talking point.

Sheriff Joe didn't "save" the taxpayers any money. Whatever money was "saved" with green Bologna was made up for in spades with unnecessary lawsuit settlements & "miss spending" - we're talking hundreds of millions of dollars here, not some tiny disputable amount.

And, Sheriff Joe had already talked about closing it, if I recall correctly. For the reasons you stated, it's not needed, and yes, the money it "saved" went out the door for other "expenditures".

[azriverfan.]

Originally Posted by adriver

Paul Penzone has been sworn in. There are several stories out there about his past. I personally am not trying to restrict this to his new career, but I will start with the first problem I have with him;

"He will decide on tent city after a full evaluation."

Tent city has been around for 20 years, and was pretty much Sherriff Joe's defining signature of his career in office. I have never been, but I think anyone who has been here for a little while knows the inmates; live in tents, eat meals that cost pennies, and wear pink underclothes to be as cheap as possible. HOW ON EARTH, is he truly not informed enough on this as to whether or not he will close it???

IMO it puts a really bad taste in my mouth as to his competence and readiness to do the job.

He is a politician. Tent city is popular with a lot of people. He can't disband it just because it was a signature of Arpaio. Many Arpaio opponents had no problem with Tent city including myself.

Unfortunately too many people live in a binary world: good or bad. Not everything Arpaio did was bad and we should embrace and support some of the positive things he did. We don't need to embrace the negative elements he was involved with (racial profiling). But Tent City was pretty reasonable and clever. Rather than releasing inmates due to overcrowding, the tent city created space and reduced costs to the taxpayer.

If it's costs have exceeded its usefulness then get rid of it. But that should be analyzed. I don't have problems with pink underwear and cheap meals; sorry it's not a Hilton.

[ScottsdaleMark]

Originally Posted by Zippyman

Pretty sure there has been info published that states that tent city is both unnecessary & more expensive to run than it's worth. 20 years ago tent city was an "alternative" to building a new jail, now we have plenty of actual jail space & tent city is (and has been) nothing more than an expensive talking point.

Sheriff Joe didn't "save" the taxpayers any money. Whatever money was "saved" with green Bologna was made up for in spades with unnecessary lawsuit settlements & "miss spending" - we're talking hundreds of millions of dollars here, not some tiny disputable amount.

Do we really have excess jail space? If so, that's a good thing, but it seems like jails all over the country are overcrowded so I guess I am just surprised if we have so many empty beds/units that Tent City could just be shut down all at once. If you have any links or articles I could read that would help me out.

Relating to the OP, I am sure until he got in office Penzone had little or no access to a lot of confidential information and financial information that will inform any decision about Tent City. Additionally, even if he was dead-set committed to closing Tent City no matter what, surely it would take many months to successfully and safely plan for all the changes necessary to safely make such a big change to the way the prison population is housed and handled.

[BIG CATS]

Originally Posted by Voebe

He can't possibly be worse, eh?

Moderator cut: Edited - Off Topic


As for Penzone, lets give him a chance. Im happy to see a new face on TV.

[Finger Laker]

Completely agree Mark. There are a lot more layers to actual action than what the OP seems to indicate.

Penzone also didn't run on a platform of closing tent city as soon as possible.