Joe Biden basically just called for the release of Bernie Madoff and Paul Manafort – Washington Examiner

Former Vice President Joe Biden went big Thursday evening at the Democratic primary debate in Houston, declaring that nonviolent criminals should not be in jail.

The moment occurred after the 2020 front-runner was asked specifically to explain his plan to release “nonviolent drug offenders from prison.” Biden was asked also to respond to critics who say his plan is not “ambitious enough.”

“The fact of the matter is that what’s happened is that we’re in a situation now where there are so many people who are in jail who shouldn’t be in jail,” he said, adding [emphasis added], “Nobody should be in jail for a nonviolent crime.”

Biden obviously needs to refine that a bit. Because the way it stands now, he just advocated for the release of all nonviolent criminals, including Ponzi scammer Bernie Madoff, FBI-agent-turned-Russian-spy Robert Hanssen, and, of course, President Trump’s one-time campaign chairman and all-around sleazebag Paul Manafort.

Surely Biden is not running on a platform that calls for the release of Manafort, of all people. Imagine trying to win over the Democratic base with that message.

The former vice president and 2020 front-runner obviously meant to say that nobody should be in jail for nonviolent drug offenses. At least, that is what I took away from parsing his full response.

“Nobody should be in jail for a drug problem,” Biden said. “They should be going directly to rehabilitation — we build more rehabilitation centers not prisons. I’m the guy that put in the drug courts to divert people from the criminal justice system. So, we have to change the whole way we look at this and we put people in prison we have to equip them when they get out.”

He added, “Nobody who got in prison for marijuana, for example, immediately upon being released — they shouldn’t be in there for a misdemeanor — that should be a misdemeanor. They should be out and their record should be expunged. Every single right should be returned. When you finish your term in prison, you should be able not only to vote, but have access to Pell Grants, have access to be able to get housing, have access to be able to move along the way. I’ve laid out a detailed plan along those lines.”