4K Convicts Would Be Set Free by Koch Brothers-Backed Prison Reform Plan

Prison reform
Brian van der BrugLos Angeles Times via Getty Images

About 4,000 prisoners would be immediately released if a prison reform plan being pushed by White House adviser Jared Kushner and the billionaire Koch brothers becomes law.

At the White House on Friday, Breitbart News noted how Trump has teamed up with his son-in-law, Kushner, and liberals like pundit Van Jones to promote a prison reform initiative that is opposed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

The plan, supported by the Koch brothers, would result in the “immediate release of 4,000 prisoners,” Politico reports and would spend $50 million over a five year period to train inmates for jobs.

The prison reform plan would expand prison work programs that provide job training to prisoners that American taxpayers would foot the bill for. The programs are a major benefit to corporations who would see a steady stream of workers out of prisons that they do not have to train.

As Breitbart News reported, likely midterm voters are unimpressed with prison reform.

According to the latest Harvard-Harris polling data, prison reform — which would deliver lighter sentences to convicted criminals and release at least 4,000 convicts from federal prison — is only considered the biggest priority in the country by six percent of likely voters.

Less than ten percent of swing voters say prison reform should be prioritized by Congress and only six percent of Republican voters say the same.

Meanwhile, only five percent of supporters of President Trump say prison reform is the top issue facing the nation. Issues like immigration, national security, job growth, and terrorism are all vastly more important to midterm voters than prison reform.

Though tax cuts remain relatively unimportant to GOP voters and swing voters, even tax reform is more important to likely voters than prison reform.

Koch executives, many of which have close ties to Vice President Mike Pence and Legislative Affairs Director Marc Short, held meetings at the White House with Trump officials and were able to get the president to sign off on the plan despite his “Law and Order” message on the campaign trail.

The prison reform plan has already been approved by the House Judiciary Committee and supporters want to it go to the full House for a vote before Memorial Day.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder

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