Sheriff Joe - No More Kool-Aid

[MTI]

Kool-Aid is being phased out for county inmates

Michelle Park
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 31, 2006 12:00 AM

Come the end of July, there won't be any Mountainberry Punch served at certain Valley dinner tables.

Instead of it, and other flavors of Kool-Aid, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio will limit his 10,000 inmates' drink choices to water. He began phasing out Kool-Aid, which the inmates call "bug juice," last week.

Discontinuing the powdered, sugary soft drink will save $43,000 a year, Arpaio says. And Kool-Aid has little nutritional value, he added.

"When you're in jail, you should not live better than you do on the outside," he said. "That's an extra kind of thing, as far as I'm concerned."

He's thinking ketchup may be next.