A federal judge ruled that inmates in Maricopa County jails are often housed in unsanitary conditions with inadequate food and health care. The ruling came more than 30 years after a lawsuit to reform jails was filed.

U.S. District Judge Neil Wake ordered in his ruling on Wednesday that anyone who was housed in intake units for more than 24 hours must be provided with a bed and mattress. Access to working sinks and toilets and care that meets their medical and mental health needs must also be met he ruled.

Judge Wake's order demanded that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who took office in 1993 take requisite steps to address the jails' overcrowded and unhygienic conditions. Sheriff Arpaio, who has called himself 'America's Toughest Sheriff,' said he will comply with the 'minor modifications' imposed by the federal judge, but maintained that he has always run a 'safe and constitutionally adequate jail system.'

A 1977 class-action lawsuit was revived by jail reform advocates recently to say that the rights of inmates who have not yet been convicted of a crime are violated when they are denied adequate housing, food and health care.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was ordered by a federal judge last week to give his position on providing $250 million this year toward the $8 billion needed to reform the state's prison health care system.

This recent ruling updated a 1995 decree where the courts had issued orders aimed at improving conditions in Arizona’s prisons. The judges found that some of the jails already met or exceeded constitutional requirements in some aspects and ended some provisions of the 1995 decree.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio said, "I have always maintained that we run a safe and constitutionally adequate jail system." Arpaio made headlines with such steps as feeding jail inmates green bologna sandwiches, clothing them in pink underwear, and making them work on chain gangs.

Margaret Winter, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney who represented inmates in the case, said "Judge Wake's decision should serve as a reminder that even a man who brags about being the toughest sheriff in America has to abide by the Constitution."

Jack MacIntyre, an attorney and chief deputy for the sheriff's office said that many of the recent rulings are easy to comply with though he expected some to be appealed.

In the instance of overcrowding, the judge found problems in a section of one jail. "It applies to only 40 out of 10,000 prisoners," MacIntyre said. "The rest of them are housed perfectly well."