Re-educating prisoners

[HappySqurriel]

NinjaguyDan said:

HappySqurriel said:

Do you really want to know what a "Better Way" is?

Realistically, we need to start considering what the likelihood that someone will re-offend is, how possible it is to rehabilitate them, and what the consequence of their re-offence will be and create an appropriate sentence for them; and we need to stop the dogmatic "One Size Fits All" approach of being easy or hard on criminals. There are criminals (like sexual predators) that will almost certainly re-offend, there is little chance of rehabilitation, and they commit some of the most heinous crimes; at the same time, there are criminals who the act of being caught has effectively eliminated their ability to re-offend, rehabilitation is highly likely, and even if they do re-offend the consequences are minimal so there is limited/no need for any significant sentence.

Ok. So, where's the better way?

If you treat people like animals, they become animals. (or worse)

First off, who said anything about prisoners (necessarily) being treated poorly? As long as a prisoner conforms to the rules of the prison and doesn’t pose a risk to prison guards or other inmates the act of restricting their freedom is punitive enough to act as a deterrent.

Beyond that, how do you propose that we deal with prisoners who really are "Animals"? Most of the worst acts committed on prisoners are committed by other prisoners, and the maximum security prison is designed to protect an inmate from the rest of the population as much as it is to protect law abiding citizens from them. Realistically, we shouldn’t send people to maximum security prisons unless they present a risk to other inmates (and the type of prison should be related to the crime); but this doesn’t mean that people who are not violent should get a cushy country-club lifestyle either.