GOP Leaders Speak Out for Prison Reform: First Rev. Pat Robertson and Now Newt Gingrich
By Tony Newman, AlterNet – At a time when Democrats and Republicans are having a difficult time agreeing on anything, let’s hope that we can come together to help end America’s longest, unwinnable war. For the second time in less than a month, a major conservative leader has spoken out for prison reform.
First there was Reverend Pat Robertson, who made national news when he spoke out against the criminalization of marijuana. On his December 16 show, while doing a segment on faith-based programs in prison and a new campaign named Right on Crime, a push by conservatives advocating for prison reform, he spoke emotionally about ruining young people lives by sending them to jail for only “few ounces of pot.”
“We’re locking up people that take a couple of puffs of marijuana, and the next thing you know they’ve got 10 years,” said Robertson. “I’m not exactly for the use of drugs — don’t get me wrong — but I just believe that criminalizing marijuana, criminalizing the possession of a few ounces of pot and that kind of thing, I mean, it’s just, it’s costing us a fortune and it’s ruining young people.” Read the full story here.