PLAN TO ABOLISH PAROLE, SET UP NEW COURT

Support for Attorney General Henry McMaster’s plan to abolish parole and establish a Middle Court to provide drug treatment and other rehabilitative services rather than prison is burgeoning after The State newspaper ran an in-depth article earlier this week.

One man, Bob Smart of Columbia, even took the time to submit a letter to the editor that captured perfectly the reason folks are becoming “big fans” when they hear about the plan:

The State’s article about Drug Court was great. I didn’t know that it existed, but I am a huge supporter of the concept of separating nonviolent offenders from the hard-core, anti-social people who threaten us all with violence.

I didn’t have an opinion of Henry McMaster before reading your article, but I am a big fan now. I hope my fellow citizens will think about what you have written and realize that what our attorney general has proposed will save us money, rehabilitate those who stand a chance to turn their lives around and separate us from the violent element of our society who put us at risk.

Weak people who make bad decisions and break our laws need to be rehabilitated, and the worst thing we can do is put them in with the hardened criminals where they are likely to end up lost to that element. Thanks for the enlightening article, and I hope my fellow South Carolinians will support Mr. McMaster’s initiative.

It will take more effort. After all, it is easier to just throw everyone into the same black hole. But it will be less expensive in the long run, and it will at least give us a chance to save a large number of our society who would otherwise be lost.

Of course, for every Bob Smart there’s one moron that has to go and try to screw everything up. In this case, that person is the director of the state’s Department of Corrections, Jon Ozmint, who calls the plan “a Trojan horse.”

Ignore the fact that law enforcement officials and pretty much everyone else thinks McMaster’s plan is a good one. Ignore the fact that Ozmint has a grudge to settle. And ignore the fact that criminals love Ozmint for going after McMaster’s plan.

Yup, it’s clearly a Trojan horse. Why? Because Ozmint said so, that’s why. Now give him back his pacifier before he throws his Gerber’s at you.