A Republican Governor Is Leading the Country's Most Successful Prison Reform

[KamaAina]

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/121425/gop-governor-nathan-deal-leading-us-prison-reform

During his second inaugural address this past January, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal shared the story of Sean Walker. After serving 12 years of a life sentence for murder, Walker was paroled in 2005 and began working in the governor’s mansion while in a state transitional center. At the time of Deal’s address, Walker was working for Goodwill as a banquet catering sales coordinator and was nominated for Goodwill International Employee of the Year. As of January, Walker was planning to take college courses with the hope of becoming a counselor.

Deal, who got to know Walker at the governor’s mansion, shared the story to underscore his own “message to those in our prison system and to their families: If you pay your dues to society, if you take advantage of the opportunities to better yourself, if you discipline yourself so that you can regain your freedom and live by the rules of society, you will be given the chance to reclaim your life.” He continued, “I intend for Georgia to continue leading the nation with meaningful justice reform.”

That last sentence could seem at best like optimism, and at worst like hyperbole. However, one could reasonably argue that Georgia is doing more to reform its criminal justice system than any other state in the country—from sentencing to felon employment after release to juvenile detention....

“Because it has had a disproportionately high incarceration rate, because it’s in the South, because it’s Republican,” Holcomb said, “people aren’t expecting criminal justice reform to come out of states with those characteristics.” But Georgia has indeed become what she calls “a leader state.” Reddy agrees. “Georgia, in some ways, had no where to go but up,” he said, “(but) they did do some noteworthy, impressive things that other states that are in a better situation could learn from.”

[Rex]

1. It's not that Republicans lack the ability to be moderates, it is that most of them now are fanatics

that have run off the deep end of depravity and insanity. MOST of us are waiting for them to try and force the rabid moonbats of their party to STFU and sitdown and every year we are disappointed that they don't.

[KamaAina]

2. Nathan "Raw" Deal is now a moderate?

[Rex]

3. No not at all, that is why I said they DO have the ability to be moderate...just that they never

decide to be.

[NV Whino]

4. I don't care who the hell does it

But the prison/punishment system in this country needs to be overhauled.