What a Beautiful Mind. The Arkansas Governor (Beebe) may be the
smartest guy in the room. Faced with an estimated (by the ‘Pew Center) one
billion dollar outlay for more prisons over the next ten years, The Governor pushed through the Democratic Legislature
an expenditure saving bill that no
longer required “Non-violent” criminals (outlaws) to serve time in jail. (Thus saving his
pledge to the public to further reduce the sales tax on groceries, one presumes.)
The
apparently assumed solution to this saving of a billion dollars—add more Parole
Officers to handle this increased workload, but require the non-incarcerated felon to pay for his own room and board. Unbeknownst to the unsuspecting
public, it was not even necessary to add additional Parole Officers and their associated costs. The Parole Board had a policy that allows
parolees to just fail to report and there is no effort to track them down. After their parole time expires, their
records are closed as “Parole Completed.” A beautiful bureaucratic solution to
a budget dilemma: don’t spend money on either end. Don’t incarcerate them and don’t
bother to track or chase parole violators. No Money spent on either end and the problem solved—what a
beautiful mind at work!
“What?”
“Well,
there is that, the prospect of increased crime. But hey, The Gov. has his own
private Arkansas State Police detail to protect him. Plus the ‘Pew estimate topped out at only
8,000-10,000 additional freed felons (un-incarcerated outlaws) on the
streets. Hardly a number to get all riled up about. Besides, they’re
non-violent outlaws, you wimp.”
"What?"
"Well, yes there are those few reported incidents of one of these "un-incarcerated outlaws" subsequently committing a violent crime. Yes, so one or two did murder someone. But hey! We are just starting this program."
No wonder the 2013 Republican Legislature eased up on permitting
private citizens to become armed for their own protection. Apparently they desired to at least give us a
fighting chance.
No comments:
Post a Comment