Gov. Nathan Deal proposed a half-measure to reduce the Georgia prison population


that nonetheless is a useful measure (the good).
He reiterated a bogus talking point (the ugly).
Then he proceeded to contradict it in advocating something that would
work against reducing the prison population (the bad).

David Rodock’s interview with Gov. Nathan Deal

is in the VDT today.

The Good

THE TIMES: How are we going to address

the large number of incarcerated citizens
and decrease those numbers?

DEAL:
“I think one of the better things we can do is have accountability
in courts whether they be drug courts, DUI courts, mental-health courts,
towards sentence reform.

the like. We know that they work. We know the recidivism rate, if they go
through those approaches rather than directly into the prison system. We
have less recidivism. We break the addictions, and we’ve got to work
very closely on that.”

I’ve previously noted that Gov. Deal has taken at least a tentative step
towards sentence reform.
That’s good, but not enough.
Let’s do the rest,

what everybody from Jimmy Carter to the NAACP to
Grover Norquist recommends:

end the war on drugs.
Legalize, regulate, and tax them instead,
thus taking away funding for criminal drug dealers and gangs,
and greatly reducing the prison population.

Next:
The Ugly.

-jsq