Perusing the Opposition crime policies

Well, I had a quick skim of what National and ACT are offering, and it's mostly dumb.

The best idea was the Nats, who wanted to extend rehabilitation programs to remand prisoners, which is a no-brainer. While ACT wants to spend $1 billion on 500 extra beds. That's a waste of money imo, plus prisoners cost $151,000 per year to incarcerate... that's almost the base salary for MP's! It's utterly ridiculous from both parties to be pushing rehab while also 'toughening' on crime and introducing literacy requirements for parole. It seems muddled, but I'm no expert on jails. - Quick snark: both parties used 'gangs' to stand in for organised crime, which is essentially dog-whistling. I reckon they'd feel differently if anyone they knew had been arrested... 🤣