Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, who's best known for his controversial stances on illegal immigration, is trying to make the holidays "a little more merry for his inmates," AzFamily.com reports.
Arpaio's Tent City Jail has its first-ever Christmas tree, and inmates have enjoyed "multi-cultural holiday music" this year – or endured that music, depending on your point of view.
"All the Christmas music they play and seeing the lights everywhere and not being able to enjoy being with your families – definitely lets you know you made a mistake," inmate Derek Halsey told AzFamily.
Other inmates have taken a harder line against the holiday music, which the sheriff plays for 12 hours a day.
Arpaio has been hit with at least six lawsuits from inmates claiming the constant drumbeat of holiday cheer qualified as cruel and unusual punishment, the Washington Times reported back in 2010.
But the sheriff keeps winning those suits, and Arpaio keeps playing tunes ranging from "Frosty the Snowman" to "Feliz Navidad" to "A Christmas Kwanzaa Solstice," according to the Times.
"Inmates should stop acting like the Grinch who stole Christmas and stop wasting the court's time with such frivolous lawsuits," said Arpaio, who loves Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and anything by Alvin and the Chipmunks.
More recently, the sheriff said, "Even people in jail deserve a little Christmas cheer."
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