Billionaire and philanthropist Charles Koch of the famously conservative Koch brothers may have surprised some people by advocating for reform of the U.S. criminal justice system. The oil refinery magnate recently told The Wichita Eagle that he’s studied the American criminal justice system and identified areas he would like to provide resources to restructure.
Part of his frustration with the current system stems from a 1995 case against Koch Industries in which a federal grand jury indicted the firm on 97 counts of felony involving alleged environmental offenses at an oil refinery. Although all but one of the charges in the case was dropped six years later, the company spent tens of millions of dollars in legal fees and agreed to pay a $10 million settlement.
The chief counsel for Koch, Mark Holden, told the newspaper that Charles considered the ordeal “a really, really tortuous experience” that highlighted the criminal justice process. Koch wondered afterward “how the little guy who doesn’t have Koch’s resources deals with prosecutions like that,” Holden said.
“Over the next year, we are going to be pushing the issues key to this, which need a lot of work in this country,” Koch said. “And that would be freedom of speech, cronyism and how that relates to opportunities for the disadvantaged.”
In addition to Koch, several other conservative figures and politicians have called for reforms in the criminal justice system. Among them, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie - a former federal prosecutor - who called for an end to the “failed war on drugs” and signed legislation that sent some offenders to rehab instead of prison.
Texas Governor Rick Perry has also spoken out in favor of certain prison reforms, saying at one point: “You want to talk about real conservative governance? Shut prisons down. Save that money.”
The discussion focuses on the reasons the GOP – which has historically maintained a tough on crime stance - appears to be somewhat shifting its position on criminal justice reform.
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