FARRELL: Leftists Are Aiming To Win Criminals

From Judicial Watch Chris Farrell’s Op-Ed for The Daily Caller:

“Are Democrats trying to make convicted criminals one of their new core constituencies?

Take for example the latest criminal justice reform moves in New York City, such as the proposed closure of the nearly 90-year-old prison on Rikers Island. There are good reasons for shutting Rikers down. It is a dangerous, dysfunctional hellhole. And the New York City Council voted to partially replace the facility by building four smaller, modern prisons across the city.

Neighborhoods in the affected boroughs of the Big Apple are not necessarily thrilled with their exciting new incarceration opportunity. Many New Yorkers are quite satisfied with the “Jewel of the East River” continuing to host the city’s criminal element.

Proponents of the shutdown — which is projected for 2026 — don’t see this as a “good government” issue. For them it is all about social justice — not treating prisoners well but questioning why there are prisoners in the first place. The underlying premise is that most of the people locked up in Rikers were there unjustly. As Mayor Bill de Blasio said, “a lot of good people caught up into it. A lot of lives ruined. It did not have to be this way. It ends now.” (Well, in seven years.)

How does it end? The mayor seems to be suggesting that getting rid of the old prison will automatically reduce the number of new prisoners. The city currently holds around 7,000 people, and projects that by 2026 this number will be down to 3,300, in part because of state bail reform, education programs, and a continuing drop in crime rates. [A separate article on the systematized fraud of crime reporting must wait for another day.] The four new prisons will have just about the capacity to hold the reduced number of inmates.”

Read the Full Op-Ed Here.