September 17, 2009 04:51 PM UTC

Conservative Gazette Stoutly Defends Ritter's Prisoner Reduction Plan

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• by: Colorado Pols

Today’s must-read from one of the most ardently conservative editorial boards in the state:

Seldom do Republicans clamor for more state spending, and more government bureaucracy, in opposition to Democrats. That’s exactly what’s happening in Colorado, however, as leading Republicans blast Democrat Gov. Bill Ritter for his proposal to save money by shrinking the prison population.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Josh Penry called the governor’s plan “Ill-conceived and reckless.” Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said the plan “will seriously compromise public safety.”

Colorado, like the rest of the country, has been on a foolish incarceration spending spree for years. Our state’s bloated prison bureaucracy has contributed to this country’s dubious distinction as having the largest prison population in the world – even larger than the prison population of China, which has more than four times the general population of the United States…

The governor’s plan resulted from recommendations of the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice. The bipartisan committee, comprised of people from a cross section of the state’s criminal justice system, recommended the early release of prisoners who comport with a strict standard of criteria, after studying data that showed the plan was unlikely to increase recidivism. Any prisoner meeting an assortment of behavioral guidelines would also have to be within six months of release from prison to qualify. That means nothing in this plan would result in an inmate receiving a substantial reduction in prison time. Even the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police supports the plan. The vast majority of convicts eligible for this slightly-early release program are nonviolent offenders, though a small percentage are murderers, sex offenders and robbers who have served most of their time.

Convicted felons are freedom-robbing scum who deserve no sympathy. Government should punish them and try to prevent them from causing more harm. The governor, the commission, and the police chiefs’ association aren’t trying to move our state in a soft-on-crime direction. Instead, they are trying to move Colorado in a direction that is realistic and fiscally responsible, given the condition of the economy.

The Pueblo Chieftain reported yesterday that these are all inmates eligible for parole–and at least 20% of them won’t get approved. The recent flare-up on this seems to be the result of an excitable Denver Post reporter who apparently didn’t understand that thousands of people are released from jail every year, budget crisis or no budget crisis, and decided to lump inmates due for release in the next few months anyway into a breathless story about the DOC “under-reporting” the number involved. In reality, all it means is a lot of those people due for release anyway will go through this pilot program intended to save money–what’s so “ill-conceived and reckless” about that?

Right, upcoming election. At some point the grownups will be able to discuss this we guess.