GREENVILLE, SC (CNN Newsource) – Julian Castro made a campaign trail stop in South Carolina Saturday.
The Democratic presidential candidate visited Solteria in Greenville, a community development corporation that provides transitional housing and job training for formal inmates.
After a tour of the woodshop where inmates learn a trade, Castro sat down with community members, business owners and Democratic party leaders to talk about his plans to change the criminal justice system.
“We want to cut way down on that recidivism,” Castro said. “And we can do that by offering educational opportunities and making sure that before they get out, that there’s more robust information about resources.”
Right now, there are about 21,000 people incarcerated in the state of South Carolina.
Castro says he wants people outside of the prison system to think differently about the cost of putting people behind bars.
“Look, if we don’t make the investment to make sure people can get on a productive path once they get out of prison, it becomes a lot more likely that they’re going to end up back in prison,” Castro said. “And so you’re going to have to pay for it, and it’s less expensive to ensure they can get a good job, that they can get a decent place to live once they get out than deal with them going back in because actually paying for somebody to be in prison in one of the most expensive things that we can do.”
