Hillary has been receiving some flak from the press for taking a stand against “mass incarceration,” after spending the 90s propping up her husband’s tough-on-crime, pro-drug-war initiatives. But Bill wants the world to know he’s on board with the change of heart.
On Wednesday, he told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, “The problem is the way it was written and implemented is we cast too wide a net and we had too many people in prison.”
“And we wound up…putting so many people in prison that there wasn’t enough money left to educate them, train them for new jobs and increase the chances when they came out so they could live productive lives.” He made similar remarks in the foreward for a new essay book, writing that his policies “overshot the mark.”
Of course, he didn’t quite place the blame on himself—he cited Republicans who demanded the “three strikes” policy, and painted himself as a grudging participant.
“The Republicans basically wanted to emphasize three strikes you’re out and all that, but I wanted to pass a bill and so I did go along with it,” he claimed.
“I strongly support what she’s doing and I think any policy that was adopted when I was president, any federal law that contributed to it needs to be changed,” he said.
Last month Hillary gave a lengthy speech detailing her ideas for criminal justice reform, in which she declared that jailing low-level offenders “does little to reduce crime.”
“Without the mass incarceration that we currently practice, millions fewer people would be living in poverty,” she said.
In 1994, however, Hillary was praising Bill’s tough on crime initiatives–including the three strikes plan. “We need more police, we need more and tougher prison sentences for repeat offenders. The three strikes and you’re out for violent offenders has to be part of the plan,” she said at the time.
