Sheriff Joe Arpaio
2009-03-14
He calls himself Americas toughest sheriff, inspired by cowboy movies. Joe Arpaio in Maricopa county, Arizona, became famous all over the world when he introduced chain gangs, striped clothes and pink underwear in his jails. - It¹s deterrence. I hope people think ³I don¹t want to commit crime in Maricopa county, because if I go to jail, it¹s not nice², Arpaio says. Recently, the state of Arizona passed a new law that makes it a crime to even be in the area without papers in order. To Arpaio, that law just does what he himself has done for a couple of years already. Two years ago he let 60 armed policemen in bullet proof vests storm the city hall of Mesa in the middle of the night, in order to arrest some undocumented cleaners. Later, he paraded 220 chained, undocumented immigrants in front of media, while they moved from the jail to a special tent camp in the desert. His voters love it, his opponents are furious. We have met sheriff Arpaio, his supporters, prisoners and opponents. Join us on a trip to Maricopa county, a place where it's not a good idea to stay without a well stamped passport.
Photos by Johan Persson.