By JACQUES BILLEAUD
Associated Press Writer
PHOENIX- An Arizona sheriff known for his tough jail policies is offering basic English classes to inmates who do not speak the language and might make it a requirement if prisoners stop volunteering for the courses.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Tuesday that the inability of some inmates to speak the language has caused problems for his jail officers and even prompted complaints from English-speaking prisoners.
“They are in the United States, and they should start speaking English,” said Arpaio, who is known for making inmates wear pink underwear and take part in old-style chain gangs in striped uniforms.
The leader of an immigrant advocacy group said the self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff in America” was not so interested in teaching people English as using illegal immigrants to draw attention to himself at a time when border woes a political priority.
“You are not doing this for the good of the inmate,” Elias Bermudez, chief executive of Immigrants Without Borders, said of Arpaio. “You are doing this to showcase (yourself).”
Arpaio, who pointed out he is not seeking re-election this year, said inmates are so eager to learn English that there’s a waiting list for the two-week courses, which began Monday.
The aim is to teach the non-English speakers about America’s three branches of government, the criminal justice system and communicating their health and safety needs to jail officers, Arpaio said.
He also wants to teach them to sing “God Bless America,” a song that the sheriff had ordered to be played each morning in his jails.
Among Arizona’s police officials, Arpaio has taken the most aggressive stance in enforcing the state’s 14-month-old immigrant smuggling law, arresting more than 300 illegal immigrants so far.
Immigrant groups said the law was intended only for immigrants smugglers and that Arpaio has overreached by charging the people who pay to be sneaked across the border. Arpaio has rejected calls to stop enforcing the law.
Donna Hamm, executive director of Middle Ground Prison Reform, a Phoenix-based prisoner-advocacy group, said it’s unusual for jails to teach English to inmates who do not speak the language.
The sheriff’s office has not surveyed the number of non-English speakers among the nearly 10,000 inmates in Arpaio’s seven jails.
But the sheriff said the majority of the 1,000 illegal immigrants in his jails do not speak English, and some of the other 2,000 Hispanic inmates who are in jail and are legal citizens also do not speak the language.
If Arpaio runs out of volunteers, he said he would make the non-English speakers attend the classes, though noting that he cannot force inmates to learn the language.
Roberto Reveles, president of Somos America, a coalition of groups that organized a massive immigration march in Phoenix during the spring, said the sheriff will be surprised at the enthusiasm the prisoners will have in learning English.
“If this is an attempt to belittle them and their culture, he will fail,” Reveles said.
Hamm said she had no objection to voluntary English classes, but would oppose an effort to prevent jail officers from speaking Spanish or other languages on issues of security, medical care or legal representation.
Arpaio said he would encourage his jail officers, some of whom are bilingual, to speak English to inmates. But Arpaio said the officers could speak Spanish in emergency situations.
No taxpayer money will be spent on the program, which will be funded through contributions that phone providers and concessions vendors make to the education fund at the jails, Arpaio said.