MSNBC’s Alter: Let’s Honor Mandela by Releasing Criminals from U.S. Prisons

ALTER: "But one of the things that is really striking me tonight, Rev, is what can Americans learn, and American society learn from the example of Nelson Mandela? You know, I think back to during the civil rights movement, Mahatma Gandhi was very influential in the United States on that movement with his principle of civil disobedience, and that helped to give the movement life. So what is Mandela’s message? Well, today we're hearing even very conservative senators and other figures talking about the spirit of forgiveness that he embodied in truth and reconciliation in South Africa. So my question tonight, Rev, is can we import that spirit of forgiveness and apply it to the hundreds of thousands of people incarcerated, who for the rest of their lives, you know, will be stigmatized by this? Could we figure out a way to forgive them, maybe expunge some of those records, release some prisoners who've been -- with three strikes and you're out, you have some people who have been there for so many years – “