Letter to the editor in the Aug 25 issue of the Phoenix Newtimes about Sheriff Joe's gulag Original Article The view from within: The Arizona Republic recently published that the Maricopa County jails, under Sheriff Joe, collected about $11 million last year in commissary and phone charges, and that slightly less than half of that amount was spent on "inmate enrichment." Whatever happened to the other half? I'd like to say that I spent 60 days in the Estrella Jail, and I saw no enrichment. Neither did the about 100 other guys in my jail dorm. "Church" consisted of one hour a week when somebody told us that if we didn't accept Jesus, we'd rot in hell. "Recreation" consisted of an hour twice a week outside in a concrete yard with nothing. The Hispanic guys would play soccer with a rolled-up ball of socks. The two meals a day contained no vegetables and one piece of fruit. The commissary food was no better; the commissary sells high-salt/high-fat junk food only. One fellow had severe abdominal pain for 36 hours before he was taken to a hospital for perforated ulcers. The jails in Phoenix are like Abu Ghraib! Name withheld by request