Arpaio, MCSO marking 20th year of Tent City
Aug 2, 2012, 1:51 PM | Updated: 1:52 pm
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and its leader, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, are preparing to celebrate the beginning of Tent City’s 20th year in service.
A small ceremony is planned for Friday morning at the controversial jail, where inmates will receive donated moon pies and peanut butter while they are shown a film of Tent City’s past. A pastor who is an inmate at the prison offered his service to speak at the ceremony.
Tent City opened on August 3, 1993, originally designed to hold 500 inmates, has since been expanded to hold 2,500 fully-sentenced inmates. In total, the jail has housed over 436,000 inmates.
Tent City has been the focus of numerous protests, including one held in June. The jail has also been the focus of numerous documentaries and television specials, both domestically and abroad.
