The latest “bipartisan initiative” going around now is prison reform. Both parties want to reduce the bloated prison population and the subsequent expense of supporting it by reducing sentences, early release of non-violent offenders, rethinking the War on Drugs, and a variety of other measures designed to cut back on the number of people in prison. Other reform ideas have been bandied about, like allowing those released from prison to have their right to vote restored.

I have no objections to these measures, I support most of them. I just can’t see why both political parties should be toying with these ideas, especially now. I’ve always felt prison sentences were too long, and that they were disproportionately applied to minorities and the poor. And I have always felt that once an offender’s debt to society has been paid in full, he should be given a clean slate so he can have a fresh start. His prison record should be privileged and confidential, and only available to the courts in the event of recidivism. Taking away a man’s reputation so he can’t find work almost guarantees he will wind up back in prison.

I can’t understand what the Republicans have to gain by this. They are doing everything they can to exploit convict labor and privatize prisons, all policies which are private sector friendly, giving private businesses the opportunity to profit from human misery. Keep ‘em in longer, and work ‘em harder! And of course, the Conservative constituency has always fallen for the “tough-on-crime”, “hang ‘em high” meme. It makes them feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and feeds directly into their capacity for self-righteous indignation.

But the Democrats aren’t exactly free of hypocrisy either, and they have plenty to profit by their compassion. Most convicts are disproportionately minority, and any prison reform will provide disproportionate Democratic votes from the families of those who are released. And if those let out early are rewarded by the franchise, the new voters will predominantly vote Democratic. Dems know this, but won’t say it out loud. The GOP knows this too, so I can’t understand what they have to gain from these reforms.

Its the same dynamic you see at work in the immigration debate. Republicans (at least, the business constituency) don’t mind illegals because they are an infinite source of cheap, docile labor. If forced to do so, they don’t even mind giving them working permits, they’ll still work cheaper than Americans and provide a downward pressure on wages and benefits. What they are bitterly opposed to is amnesty, AKA the “path to citizenship” that means that some day they’ll be voting Democrat. Democrats, on the other hand, see every immigrant as producing Democrat babies, and as having legal or native Democrat family members who will gratefully vote Democrat. C’mon, this is America, we’ve always exploited our immigrants politically as well as economically. Remember Tammany Hall, Boss Tweed, and the Irish immigrants of the 19th century?