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Comment by _audakel | Hacker News Reader

this just makes me glad that Garry Johnson is campaigning on criminal justice reform. From his website

"How is it that the United States, the land of the free, has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world? The answer is simple: Over time, the politicians have “criminalized” far too many aspects of people’s personal lives.

The failed War on Drugs is, of course, the greatest example. Well over 100 million Americans have, at one time or another, used marijuana. Yet, today, simple possession and use of marijuana remains a crime — despite the fact that a majority of Americans now favor its legalization.

And who is most harmed by the War on Drugs? Minorities, the poor, and anyone else without access to high-priced attorneys."

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I agree, the only reason private prisons exist is because the government was sending so many people to prison the public prisons could not keep up budget wise. So they had to ask the private sector to help keep costs down. Private prisons are just a symptom (only 6 percent of state prisoners, 16 percent of federal prisoners are in private prisons) of the real problem that is the US is sending too many people to prisons, more than any country and mostly because of harsh punishment of victimless crimes such as the war on drugs but not only that, there's also the 3-strike rule, minimum sentences, ridiculous regulations etc and both republicans and dems are responsible as these were passed by Clinton with the agreement of the opposition. Sickening really.

And now they are blaming private prisons? How about admitting the government was wrong on the war on drugs and harassing the poor with victimless crimes which resulted in a waste of trillions of dollars and millions of poor sent to prisons having their life ruined. Not gonna happen I know, or at least it will but very slowly and they will blame the private sector all the way during the process. Again, this is really sickening.

He supports private prisons though, he cited building them as one of his greatest achievements as governor. Presumably he won't be happy with this decision.

this is true, however he wrote in his personal blog that:

"Never in that process did I experience any pressure to “fill beds” in the private prisons we built. And if I had, it wouldn’t have worked. It might happen elsewhere, but it absolutely did not happen in New Mexico when I was Governor. At the time, the “per-prisoner” cost in the state prisons was $76 per day. The cost to house prisoners in the private facilities was $56 per day. Better service, lower cost."

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