Jail detention conditions

Through fees and forced labor, sheriffs typically exacerbate the financial costs of incarceration, but they could also mitigate them.

Jerry Sheridan, who beat Arpaio in the Republican primary, has been complicit in many of the former sheriff’s worst misdeeds.

“The solution to the problem of mass incarceration is certainly not more mass incarceration,” said Charmaine McGuffey, who won. In neighboring Greene County, voters rejected a tax increase to build a bigger jail.

Ohio advocates are resisting proposals to expand the jail and local cooperation with ICE. In the primary on Tuesday, the sheriff and his challenger disagree on both fronts.

“This incentivizes them once again to underfeed people in their custody if they know the extras can be used on bells and whistles or guns,” warns an Alabama advocate.

Flagler County expanded its county jail in July 2016, more than tripling the number of people it could detain. Later that year, the county elected a new sheriff—Rick Staly—who has since boasted about the record number of individuals in the jail and about the poor conditions therein. Staly has unveiled signs labeling the jail the “Green Roof […]

Daniel Nichanian Seven people died in the Milwaukee County Jail under Sheriff David Clarke’s tenure. One man died in 2016 after being denied water for seven days, and a criminal complaint later described “an institutional practice of punitively shutting off water to unruly inmates.” Clarke was also known nationally for harsh policies toward immigrants, disparaging comments toward Black Lives Matter, and […]