The Civil Rights unit of the U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Thursday for refusing to turn over arrest records and related documents in the department’s ongoing probe on civil rights abuses.
The lawsuit claims that Sheriff Arpaio and the Maricopa County sheriff’s office has acted in an “unprecedented” fashion by refusing to provide documents that may show whether his department’s traffic sweeps violated the civil rights of Hispanics and if he mistreated prisoners in his custody.
Sheriff Arpaio has received national attention for forcing inmates to work on chain gangs, wear pink jumpsuits, live outdoors in tent barracks, unconstitutional searches and seizures, and enforcing English-only policies in his jails.
Arpaio accuses the Justice Department investigation of political motivation.
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