As it turns out (and I may have to shower after typing this), he is!

Our dear friend Newtie the Gingrich has very enlightened views (at least in the abstract) about prison reform.  I did a quick Google to see if the Eye of Newt had been cast in this progressive direction before and came up with Chapter 19 of his book Real Change entitled "The Need for Fundamental Prison Reform".  A preview of the chapter is available here.

Does this mean I am going to have to bite the bullet and actually read the book?  Naaa, I'm going to remain convinced that Newt has nothing to offer and blindly accept that there are no other relevent points of view than my own.