Thread: Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Mug Shot Contest

Mental-health advocates denounce mug shot contest:

by Associated Press (April 23rd, 2011 @ 6:38pm)

PHOENIX — Mental-health advocates are complaining about a new online contest launched by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office that asks people to choose the most popular jail booking photos posted on its website.

The Arizona Republic reports that more than 25 percent of Maricopa County's inmates admit to having been diagnosed with a mental illness at some point in their lives, and at least 20 percent of inmates are prescribed psychiatric medicine in jail.

Charles Arnold, an attorney who's a longtime advocate for the mentally ill, says the outcome of the online mug-shot game was predictable given that many people in Sheriff Joe Arpaio's jails are dealing with some combination of substance abuse, mental illness and physical ailments.

"While we might risk advancing (Arpaio's) publicity component, I think it's critical that we try to get in the way of this and stop this kind of exploitative behavior — because that's exactly what it is," Arnold said. "What he's doing seems to be to be exploiting people who have been defined in our state as vulnerable adults. That's offensive."

Arpaio says his office isn't making fun of the mentally ill. "The photos are there anyway," Arpaio said. "What difference does it make if you ask them which one they like? They don't know the history of the person."

The sheriff's office says Arpaio's new web page attracted more than 135,000 visitors in its first four days of existence. The same page drew 191,000 visitors over the 30 days before that.

Arpaio's track record of publicizing inmates in Maricopa County jails laid the groundwork for the response to the mug-shot game.

In 2001, Arpaio began streaming footage online from the booking area at the old Madison Street Jail. Inmates sued in federal court and won an injunction against the webcast. Arpaio appealed the ruling and was denied by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

After the mug-shot game was unveiled this week, Scott Ambrose, a Phoenix attorney who represented inmates in the webcast case, found himself wondering how Arpaio's latest gimmick served any legitimate purpose.

"It's the same type of offense," Ambrose said. "He's clearly using these people who are not guilty of any crime for an entertainment factor, which I find offensive and quite possibly illegal."

Proving the contest is illegal, and getting Arpaio to take the feature down, is another matter, Ambrose said.

"Can you show that the most pathetic, sad, downtrodden, disabled people are routinely being presented as the Mug Shot of the Day?" Ambrose asked. "That's when you would have a good argument that this is a form of punishment."

Arpaio says that booking photos are aired in the news media every day.

http://ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=1408185

Related:
Sheriff Arpaio's Website Goes Interactive
http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-1214301.html#1214301

Charles Arnold, an attorney who's a longtime advocate for the mentally ill, says the outcome of the online mug-shot game was predictable given that many people in Sheriff Joe Arpaio's jails are dealing with some combination of substance abuse, mental illness and physical ailments.

If the incarcerated offenders housed in Sheriff Joe jails have some types of mental illness, why didn't Mexico alert the United States they have many mental ill persons leaving the Country and unlawfully traveling to the U.S.? That is a very dangerous problem to allow all of those mentally ill undocumented people cross the border into the United States.

I think he should be the model for all sheriffs in the US vis-a-vis illegal immigration. I love everything Arpaio has done for Maricopa county, except this.

I don't understand why he did this. An action like this could only be viewed in a negative way and could only attract criticism.