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Sheriff Joe Arpaio's mug-shot contest riles mental-health advocates by JJ Hensley - Apr. 23, 2011 12:00 AM The Arizona Republic More than 25 percent of inmates in Maricopa County Jail admit to being diagnosed with mental illness, so Sheriff Joe Arpaio stood a good chance of offending mental-health advocates when the Sheriff's Office recently launched a new online contest asking website visitors to vote for their favorite inmate-booking photos. It took less than 24 hours for Arpaio to hit a nerve. When the site debuted this week, 48-year-old Barbara Cyran - listless, unkempt and with a bit of spittle below her lip - was among the fan favorites. Cyran is also mentally incompetent to stand trial, according to court-appointed experts whose opinions have led to the dismissal of trespassing and prostitution charges against her in the past two years. Considering the residents of Arpaio's jails, many of whom deal with some combination of substance abuse, mental illness and physical ailments, the outcome of the online mug-shot game was predictable, said Charles "Chick" Arnold, a Phoenix attorney and longtime advocate for the mentally ill. "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." Offensive or not, the contest accomplished the sheriff's stated goal of bringing users to his website: 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, according to the Sheriff's Office. On average, more than 300 new inmates are booked into Maricopa County jails each day. Arnold calls it the state's largest mental-health-treatment facility. Most inmates have not been convicted of crimes. Reasons for their arrest vary, and so do their health conditions. Many are brought in on charges such as driving under the influence, drug possession or outstanding warrants. More than a third test positive for marijuana or methamphetamine when they're booked; 20 percent test positive for cocaine. More than 25 percent of 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. But many other inmates who might suffer from mental illness don't show up in those statistics. Benjamin Luna and Theodore Thompson, two inmates whose booking photos were among the leaders in Mug Shot of the Day voting on Thursday, were both deemed competent to stand trial in recent years, but only if they adhered to court-ordered regimens of psychotropic drugs. Luna was shirtless and wearing a bandage over his right eye in his booking photo and appeared to be covered in white paint or powder. Thompson, who was arrested for trespassing, simply appeared disheveled. Both men trailed in votes behind Patrick Leroy Holt, 26, arrested on suspicion of assault, abuse and criminal damage. Holt has no Arizona criminal record. Like three other men on Thursday's mug-shot leader board, Holt has no record of court-ordered mental-health treatment or examination. Arpaio focuses on inmates like Holt when discussing his latest effort to draw attention to his office. "We're not making fun of people with mental illness," Arpaio said. "The photos are there anyway. What difference does it make if you ask them which one they like? They don't know the history of the person." It's true, the criminal histories and mental-health assessments of inmates aren't readily available - it takes a few clicks through the court system's website to access that information - but 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, the judges of which noted that the "reality show" served no legitimate purpose. 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 acknowledged. "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." He and Arnold, who filed the landmark lawsuit that helped established Arizona's treatment system for the mentally ill, said they hoped the sheriff would reconsider. Arpaio says that booking photos are aired in the news media every day. A local alternative weekly even took a page from Arpaio's playbook earlier this year and let readers have fun with some of the sheriff's mug shots. "Sheriff Joe will argue that 'I can do this because New Times can,' " Ambrose said. "There's lots of things the government can't do that you and I can." Arpaio also wondered about the ethical distinctions between a newspaper running his photo and America's Toughest Sheriff calling attention to inmates in his custody. "You talk about me making people look bad. I want to know why the editorial board uses the worst picture they can find on me? You guys do the same thing that you're accusing me of doing," Arpaio said. "Did you check to see if I have a mental problem?" Republic reporter Richard Ruelas contributed to this article. |