Correction facilities are meant to correct a person who was involved in a crime. Prisons should not be punitive, but institutions that induce a positive change of behavior in a person. In contrary, the open-air jail in Phoenix Arizona that was under the management and control of Maricopa County Sherriff Joe Arpaio wasa more penal than correction institutions. Other than the racial profiling and the high rate of racism within such prisons, the living condition under such tents was nearly unbearable for a normal human being. The prison underwent criticism and scrutiny that led to its official closure in later years. Sheriff Joe Arpaio's philosophy of prisoning was strictness on the prisoners. He adopted harsh rules of handling prisoners since, in his view, prisoners deserved harsh conditions that equal the crime committed.
Open air-tent prisoning was also meant to correct the prisoners and discourage a repeat of the offense mostly, illegal migration in America. Most of the prisoners who went through this prison system had a bitter story to tell as shown in the video. From their testimonies, the conditions within the prison tents weresevere and were meant to discourage any person who went through such an experience against committing a similar offense. In general, the open air tent prison system mostly housed those who committed a lesser crime or were facing lesser charges. The first mechanism of discouraging a repeat of offense was the high temperatures within the tents. The High heat within the tents mostly during the summers was unbearable ( Lynch, 2015). The prisoners could use wet pink towels or strip and remain with pink underwear to combat the harsh temperatures in the tents. Further, the diet was not appealing within the prison system. The condition was supposed to be harsh, and so was the diet system. The pink underwear, slippers, and the towels were also part of the system which was meant to discourage a repeat of an offense.
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In my view, the tent-prisoning system is not the best way to deal with prison crowding problem. From the video, it is evident that tent-prisoning strategy is more than avoiding the overcrowded prisons, but is more into punishing the prisoners. The fact that there was a prison riot which was caused by the same system is proof of its ineffectiveness. The inhuman conditions such as high temperature and bad diet adopted in the tent system are unwanted. The management could have chosen another strategy, for instance, expanding the blocks or acquiring other branches where the prisoners could be taken when the central prison was overcrowded. Adopting a policy or a system where the rights of human being are respected is a good strategy than subjecting people into animal-like conditions such as imprisoning them in a tent.
The abrupt closure of tent prisons though has potential benefits for the prisoners, is disastrous with regards to overcrowding in other correction facilities. Closing tent prisons mean that there is an urgent need of space in other prisons to accommodate the prisoners from the tents. It further implies that the department must reorganize itself to have staffs to manage the larger number from the tent prisons. Also, it means that more cells are needed for the new prisoners. If such an action is taken and there are no additional strategies to manage the influx from the tent prisons, overcrowding is inevitable in prison and the department as a whole. The new sheriff must work together with the unit managers toensure that the existing correction facilities are expounded, and there are enough human resources to take care of the prisoners upon their transfer to other facilities from the text prisons.
Reference
Lynch, M. (2015). (Im) Migrating Penal Excess: Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the Case of Maricopa County, Arizona. In Extreme Punishment (pp. 68-90). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
