Conservatives latch onto prison reform

[alp227]

Reporting from Atlanta —
Reduced sentences for drug crimes. More job training and rehabilitation programs for nonviolent offenders. Expanded alternatives to doing hard time.

In the not-too-distant past, conservatives might have derided those concepts as mushy-headed liberalism — the essence of "soft on crime."

Nowadays, these same ideas are central to a strategy being packaged as "conservative criminal justice reform," and have rolled out in right-leaning states around the country in an effort to rein in budget-busting corrections costs.

Encouraged by the recent success of reform efforts in Republican-dominated Texas — where prison population growth has slowed and crime is down —conservative leaders elsewhere have embraced their own versions of the strategy.

South Carolina adopted a similar reform package last year. Republican governors are backing proposals in Louisiana and Indiana.

The about-face might feel dramatic to those who remember the get-tough policies that many conservatives embraced in the 1980s and '90s: In Texas, Republican Clayton Williams ran his unsuccessful 1990 gubernatorial campaign with a focus on doubling prison space and having first-time drug offenders "bustin' rocks" in military-style prison camps.

Full story: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-conservative-crime-20110129,0,627861,full.story

[Rageneau]

1. Thank God! Cause if Conservatives want something done, it will GET done.

Those people really BELIEVE in what they believe.

[Adsos Letter]

2. Article #4 of the "Statement of Principles" at the Right On Crime site

"4. An ideal criminal justice system works to reform amenable offenders who will return to society through harnessing the power of families, charities, faith-based groups, and communities."

https://www.rightoncrime.com/the-conservative-case-for-reform/statement-of-principles/

I wonder if that means the approach of Charles Colson's "Prison Fellowship" whose mission is stated as follows (according to Wikipedia):

"Prison Fellowship targets the root causes of crime by applying the principles of restorative justice (restoring criminals, victims, and the community) through comprehensive, faith-based programs. These programs include in-prison programs (mentoring, educational training, biblical training), Operation Starting Line (in-prison high profile evangelism), ex-prisoner transitional care (church-based aftercare and mentoring), InnerChange Freedom Initiative (full-time Christian prison programs), and Angel Tree (reaching half a million prisoners' children through a Christmas outreach, Christian camping, and mentoring).<3>"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison_Fellowship

[EC]

3. Maybe they're becoming afraid they're going to end up

there. My guess is ownership in private prisons. These reforms will cost more money and involve other private industries they likely own too. Rehabs (counseling programs developed by cronies), job training will be industries getting cheap labor and alternatives to doing time would be city work crews to replace government paid crews (privatizing government services work).


Oh and on edit: It also looks like they are recruiting new voters into the evangelical troops.