You seem to be repeating a common misunderstanding, which is that the Koch brothers supported criminal justice reform because they care about the fate of incarcerated people.
That is provably false. They care of criminal justice reform because they don't want corporations--or the people who own them--to be held criminally liable when those corporations violate the law. This is particularly important for a family whose fortune comes from the extraction of oil.[0] They purchased ads around the country criticizing judges and politicians as "soft on crime," and actively supporting a Republican gubernatorial candidate who opposes criminal justice reform and criticized Obama for releasing "dangerous thugs."[1]
From the Intercept: "Koch’s interest in criminal justice reform was sparked not by the plight of overcrowded prisons or racial disparities in law enforcement, but by the company’s own environmental crimes. In 2000, Koch was indicted over claims that it had polluted huge amounts of benzene, a known carcinogen, from a Texas refinery and then attempted to cover up the crime. The indictment came on the heels of a series of state and federal probes that had forced the company to pay what was then the largest civil penalty for violations of environmental law for allowing hundreds of oil spills across six states."
No, the Koch's interest in criminal reform for the sake of the greater good is not "provably false". The Intercept article you posted is full of circumstantial evidence and rhetoric, and contains nothing that would be regarded as "proof". The strongest points it makes are:
1) The Kochs' money goes toward Republican candidates who oppose criminal reform.
2) The Kochs' interest was "sparked by the company's own environmental crimes"
Point 1 is as convincing as arguing that the ACLU and other liberals are also anti-criminal-reform, given that the majority of them likely voted for Bill and Hillary Clinton, despite the former being the president who advocated and signed America's most punitive federal sentencing reforms. The Koch brothers support conservatives, and some/many conservatives don't support or prioritize criminal reform. Also, you mischaracterize their political ad efforts. Their money goes to Republicans who have the discretion to spend it on whatever they like, including tough-on-crime candidates and platforms. The Kochs are indeed an accomplice to whatever their supported candidates decide to do with the money. But if the Kochs just want conservatives to win and don't actually care about criminal reform, why would they be quitely spending millions directly to support the kind of criminal reform advocacy that undercuts the GOP's status quo?
And the TIME article does indeed assert the Kochs' interest in criminal justice reform dates back to when their company was charged with environmental crimes and fined. And the Kochs' general counsel is quoted as supporting that timeline and that non-altruistic origin story:
> The owners believed they had been victimized by overzealous prosecutors and unclear statutes. “Our view was if we, a large company with many resources, were treated this way, what’s happening to the average American?” Holden says.
And...so? I didn't say the Kochs' got into criminal reform out of altruism. The op-ed I linked to from Doug Deason clearly has Deason talking about his personal run-in with the law. What I'm claiming is that, however they were first interested, what they are advocating now is reform that affects millions of convicts who are nowhere near Kochs' strata of self-interest, which the TIME article details (and the Intercept ignores). What does lobbying for better legal counsel for low-income/indigent defendants, restoring rights to youthful non-violent offenders, and reducing mandatory prison sentences, have to do with protecting the Kochs from prosecution for white-collar crimes. If the Kochs wanted to mitigate their exposure to future prosecution, they could just focus on lobbying for corporate and environmental deregulation.
The New Yorker has a more thorough article about the Kochs' possible motives and potential Trojan horse [1]. It notes that a previous iteration of the criminal reform bill, passed by the Senate committee, the House Judiciary Committee added provisions that would "weaken the government's ability to prosecute an array of corporate crimes". The Kochs spokesperson told the New Yorker at the time that the Kochs supported stripping the white-collar-crime provisions if that meant the bill could be passed.
Yeah, agreed. What people often forget is that the Kochs are libertarians, and like most libertarians, they have pretty strong, fundamental disagreements with the mainstreams of both parties and have to make some hard political compromises. Probably because of their vested interests, they've chosen the compromise of supporting Republicans. But many of their actions are unambiguously libertarian in tenor: they founded the Cato Institute, are the primary funders of Reason, and David Koch himself was the Libertarian Party's 1980 Vice-Presidential candidate.
Or maybe they're just fighting a shadowy proxy-war with George Soros. Who knows. Just always seems funny that when a billionaire is working towards political reforms you like, they're the good guy, and when they're working towards political reforms you don't like, it's a shadowy conspiracy to rig the system and get richer.
Libertarianism is a subset of Republicanism in the US. Both serve the rich. Both always stand for the greed and selfishness of the individual over any greater good. Both want to be unconstrained by the will of the people as it interferes with their greed. Both always want more money. Both hate the commons and want it seized, given away, or sold off, for the interests of the wealthy.
That is provably false. They care of criminal justice reform because they don't want corporations--or the people who own them--to be held criminally liable when those corporations violate the law. This is particularly important for a family whose fortune comes from the extraction of oil.[0] They purchased ads around the country criticizing judges and politicians as "soft on crime," and actively supporting a Republican gubernatorial candidate who opposes criminal justice reform and criticized Obama for releasing "dangerous thugs."[1]
From the Intercept: "Koch’s interest in criminal justice reform was sparked not by the plight of overcrowded prisons or racial disparities in law enforcement, but by the company’s own environmental crimes. In 2000, Koch was indicted over claims that it had polluted huge amounts of benzene, a known carcinogen, from a Texas refinery and then attempted to cover up the crime. The indictment came on the heels of a series of state and federal probes that had forced the company to pay what was then the largest civil penalty for violations of environmental law for allowing hundreds of oil spills across six states."
[0] Koch Industries has pattern of violating ethics, environmental laws: https://www.seattletimes.com/business/koch-industries-has-pa...
[1] KOCH BROTHERS TALK CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM, BUT PAY FOR “TOUGH ON CRIME” POLITICAL ADS: https://theintercept.com/2015/11/03/soft-on-crime-ads/