Former ABC News star Ted Koppel seems to have a split personality. He’s always been a softie on crime and punishment, but not when it comes to U.S. “torture” perpetrators:
“Let those who violate our stated national principles on torture be put on notice, it is against American law no matter where or under what circumstances it’s employed, and violations of that law will lead to prison.” – Ted Koppel’s first commentary on the BBC show World News America, May 11, 2009.
Compare this to the more natural Koppel, the one who thinks the lock-’em-up right wing are destroying the lives of prisoners:
“It’s a huge national problem….The U.S. has more people in prison than anywhere in the world. We have four times as many people in prison than 25 years ago. The level of overcrowding is growing, and in the next five years, the cost of running prisons in California is going to overtake the cost of all public education in that state. It costs the same amount to pay for an inmate for a year as it does to pay for tuition, room and board at Harvard, about $43,000. I mean, pick your statistic…this is a serious problem.” – Ted Koppel promoting a Discovery Channel documentary complaining about over-imprisonment in California on MSNBC.com, October 8, 2007.