Maricopa County Tent City Finally Closed: Last Inmates Transferred Out

Nearly 25-years after then-Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio first opened his tent prison, the last inmate is gone and the tent city is closed. The prison, which Arpaio once compared to a "concentration camp," drew scorn and criticism from human rights groups over the years because of conditions there.

The last inmate was transferred over the weekend to the county-run Durango Jail, the Arizona Republic first reported.

Sheriff Paul Penzone, who drove Arapio from office last November, announced that the facility would be closed in April. (For more local news, subscribe to the Phoenix Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts).

"The image of the tents as a deterrent to recidivism, and as a symbol of being tough on crime may have been true in the past," he said at the time. "Today it is only a myth. Tent City is no longer an effective, efficient facility. It has been effective only as a distraction.

"The circus is over. The tents are coming down."

Penzone said that closing the prison will save the county millions every year.

The jail gained an occasionally notorious reputation for its harsh conditions which, in 1997, Amnesty International said should be shut because of its "unsuitability as a humane alternative to housing inmates."

Arpaio didn't help himself - occasionally making comments that added fuel to the fire.

"It's 120 degrees in Iraq and the soldiers are living in tents and they didn't commit any crimes, so shut your mouths," he told inmates in July 2011 when the temperature inside the tent was measured at 145.

Despite the heat, the sheriff's office says that in surveys over the years, inmates preferred the tents to jail cells since they were allowed to be in the open air.

The biggest complaint they had was over the vegetarian menu.

Photo courtesy Maricopa County Sheriff's Office