Jane Sanders, Bernie’s wife, debates Arpaio about Tent City
A day before her husband, Sen. Bernie Sanders, was set to hold a presidential campaign rally in Phoenix, Jane Sanders held an impromptu event of her own, verbally sparring with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio before touring his outdoor jail known as Tent City.
Sanders had not planned to tour the inside of Tent City, where inmates are kept in canvas tents. The campaign, in a release, had called conditions in the jail “inhumane.”
Sanders stood along the outside of Tent City, peering into it through a fence. Arpaio walked over from a news conference he was holding nearby, greeted her and offered her a tour.
Arpaio let her know that he was a supporter of Donald Trump for president. Sanders let him know she preferred Bernie Sanders.
Outside Tent City, Jane Sanders asked Arpaio about racial profiling, but Arpaio declined to answer, citing legal concerns. Arpaio’s Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office was found by a federal judge to have racially profiled Latinos during enforcement activities.
However, he told her “there’s a lot of misunderstanding about the tents” and that he was happy to discuss the facility.
“This sun — we’re out here for just a few minutes. It’s hard to be in those tents,” Sanders told Arpaio in one exchange.
Arpaio responded with his stock answer: The conditions are similar to those endured by members of the U.S. military who are “fighting for our country” and living in tents.
“These are all convicted (inmates),” Arpaio said. “They’re all doing their time.”
“OK, I had not heard that,” Sanders responded. “I had heard the opposite I thought that it had changed.”
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