Sheriff Wins Suits Challenging Jailhouse Christmas Music
The controversial Arizona sheriff who has filed a racketeering lawsuit against the Maricopa superior court is waging a legal battle on a different front, this one over holiday music.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio has ordered the county jails to play holiday music 12 hours a day, prompting lawsuits from six Maricopa County inmates. All six cases have been dismissed, the Associated Press reports.
The inmates say the music amounts to cruel and unusual punishment and forces participation in religious celebrations.
Arpaio counters that he plays music from all countries and faiths. Inmates “should stop acting like the Grinch who stole Christmas and give up wasting the court’s time with such frivolous assertions,” he says.
Some of the music played in past years included songs by Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Bing Crosby and Doctor Demento, KPHO reports.
