So Harper's Pal Newt Gingrich Says He's Wrong on Crime

I've already posted on how Harper's Reformers helped Newt Gingrich win the House in the mid 1990's.

They didn't get much more right-wing than the Newt.

But now Gingrich is challenging the Harper government's new tough on the poor by making them all criminals, law and order agenda, that includes prison expansion and the cancelling of rehabilitation programs.

Gingrich, the former Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, is the best-known leader of Right on Crime, a new conservative group that is blowing the whistle on the idea that more prisons, more prisoners and more money poured into punishment is the way to keep people safe. In the Post, he wrote that the U.S. spent a staggering $68 billion last year on corrections, largely to lock up petty criminals and addicts. Worse, he added, “half of the prisoners released this year are expected to be back in prison within three years. If our prison policies are failing half the time, and we know there are more humane, effective alternatives, it is time to fundamentally rethink how we treat and rehabilitate our prisoners.”

What a week for the Harper government to announce the latest instalment of its “tough on crime” agenda. Ottawa doled out $150 million to fund hundreds of new beds at jails in Ontario, Quebec and the Prairies, part of a plan that will cost at least $2 billion over the next five years (the government’s figure) or as much as $5 billion (the estimate by the independent Parliamentary budget officer). The Conservatives should think again, and take on board the message from Gingrich & Co. Instead of harping on about being “tough on crime,” they should focus on getting it right on crime — in the best possible way.

But how can their wealthy buddies profit from that?

Listen to Stockwell Day try and justify his "build it and they will come" waste of our money.