From Deseret News archives:
TV in Spanish spurs disputes in Utah jails
After getting numerous complaints about the raunchy shows and inmates hogging the television, jail commanders decided Tuesday to pull the Spanish-language TV channel Univision from the cable line-up pumped into the jail's 15 common area TVs.
"It was dividing the inmates," said Cache County Sheriff's Lt. Brian Locke. "Some wanted to watch it, some didn't want to watch it and it just got worse and worse and it all came back to that channel."
The Cache County Jail dispute is not an isolated incident as other area jails have reported television viewing must be carefully managed to avoid trouble among inmates.
In Logan, Locke said non-Hispanic inmates were getting tired of watching programs in a foreign language. Jail commanders told the Deseret Morning News fights broke out last week over TV watching.
Finally, deputies began complaining about the raunchy shows.
"Our deputies would walk through and there'd be some scantily clad women on the screen," he said.
When the channel was turned off Tuesday, Locke said, some of the inmates became upset.
"We gave them another channel like ESPN 2, but they decided they weren't going to go back to their houses," he said Wednesday. "We ended up telling them to lock down in English and Spanish. Some did and the rest that didn't we went in and took them out."
Cache County sheriff's deputies called in their jail SWAT team to push the 25 or so inmates back into their cells. Most eventually complied, but Locke said one refused and was hit with a Taser.
Some of the inmates involved in the outburst now face administrative punishments, sanctions and possible criminal charges.
The lockdown remained in effect today for some inmates.
Other jails have experienced similar problems because of televisions. The Weber County Jail in Ogden said it has had issues with Spanish-language television.
"I think the issue wouldn't be a raunchy, seedy TV show. That might appeal to most people," said Weber County Sheriff's Capt. Kevin Burton. "The issue is the non-Hispanics can't understand what's going on. It's a language they don't understand."
About 40 percent of the inmates at the Cache County Jail are Latino, Locke said. He said they offer about 20 different TV channels ranging from local stations to TNT, ESPN and the Discovery Channel.
Burton said the Weber County Jail treats TV as a privilege that inmates enjoy when they are on good behavior. To keep that privilege, the inmates have found a way to share the common TVs.
