Deval "Will Rogers" Patrick: I Never Met A Criminal I Didn't Like

Massachusetts' criminal class will be pleased to know that Deval Patrick doesn't just care about convicted rapists like Ben Leguer. Just over 100 days in office, he's already trying to get rid of mandatory minimum sentences for all of the Commonwealth's most dangerous felons.

As the Boston Globe-Democrat points out, this isn't Gov. Patrick's only pro-criminal initiative. "The administration is also looking at restricting which information is released to employers under the Criminal Offender Record Information, or CORI, law, which has made it difficult for released prisoners to find work."

As for mandatory minimum sentences, they're bad ideas because the murderers and rapists who get out afterwards are likely to kill and rape again as soon as they're released. Patrick's plan: Release them sooner.

Oh, that'll help...

The Patrick p.r. machine insists that this isn't eliminating mandatory minimums, merely "reforming" them. As Patrick ally AG Martha Coakley says "legislation filed by Senator Cynthia Stone Creem would create a sort of hybrid mandatory minimum: prisoners could apply to the Parole Board for release after serving two-thirds of their mandatory minimum sentence."

So Massachusetts would still mandate that dangerous felons serve their entire sentences, except for when they get out after serving two-thirds of it. It's mandatory, except when it's not.

Brilliant.