It was 115° here yesterday. The news said it was the hottest location on earth. Some place in Saudi Arabia came in second.
Today I hopped in my air-conditioned car to return a book (The Scarecrow) to the library. Just outside my gated and walled development (fairly typical in Arizona), there was a women's chain gang at work on the landscaping. It was 104° at 10:45 this morning.
I stopped. I got out of the car with my camera and walked over to the officer who was watching over the prisoners. Officer Armando was very cordial. He asked if he could help me and I told him who I was and asked if it would be OK to take a few pictures. He said he would prefer if I did not. I immediately thought of one of the four areas of the SPJ code of ethics: Minimize harm.
While we were talking, a worker for the City of Surprise came by and introduced himself. He told me that the city contracts with the prison to get the landscaping done. "Saves us a lot of money," he said. I asked Officer Armando how the girls felt about being out here in this heat. He told me that they see this work program as a "privilege."
"They have to work their way up to level one in order to be considered for the outside," he said. "And if they mess up, they go back down to a lower level and it takes them at least six months to get back on the list."
When I first came to Arizona ten years ago, I thought that 'forcing' women to do menial labor in the hot son was horribly cruel. Perhaps some of my fellow Reynolds Institute graduates felt the same way. The girls do not see it that way. Officer Armando and the Surprise city worker agreed; the girls would much rather feel like they are contributing than to stay inside a prison all day. There is a waiting list to work on the outside.
I was given the name of the City of Surprise supervisor of public works. I will contact her and see if she would like an article done in our school newspaper. Maybe it will help someone. Maybe journalism can make a difference. I hope so.
Rick Burd
Wickenburg High School
Wickenburg, Ariz
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Interesting. Do they have a/c inside the prison, or are fans used to circulate air? Maybe it's "cooler" outside in the Arizona heat than inside the prison buildings.
ReplyDeleteHere, it's cooled off from the 111s of last week to 107 today.
Mark Webber
Laredo, Texas
Rick - what harm is there to do in covering an occurrence in the public view? There is NO statute or limitation of photographing those workers. They have no reasonable expectation of privacy.
ReplyDeleteIn a similar instance several years ago I hesitated to photograph jail inmates doing manual labor demolishing houses to make room for the courthouse expansion. Then a couple of the inmates called out "take my picture" and it turned out they WANTED recognition for their work.
Jeff Jones
Miyamura High School
Gallup, NM