Should prisons be harsher or more pleasant?

[OddBeMe]

Before you immediately loathe posh treatment of criminals…the worst prison in the world is in Russia: Black Dolphin where prisoners have to stand from dusk til dawn.

Scandinavian prisons are almost like resorts. And their focus is schooling. And their recidivism rates are fractional of US and Russia. Are they onto something?

Harsh prisons

Treatment prisons

[msc545]

Having worked as a prison doctor in a maximum security facility, I know something about this. The keys to inmate peace and a lack of recidivism among inmates are complex, but mutual respect between staff and inmates is crucial, and meaningful work and frequent family visits help a lot. Psychological treatment is necessary for most inmates and is often ignored. Decent food has a surprisingly positive effect. A good prison library helps, and inmate education is usually very effective. Some prisons allow inmates to keep pets (mostly cats) and this too has a very positive effect. There are many more things that can and should be done but you get the idea. Most of them are never implemented in US prisons. Prison architecture / design is very important in terms of security, but also in terms of mood - a bit of paint can go a long way toward improving behavior.

For those seeking vengeance, keep in mind that mistreating prisoners is a losing tactic. When this is done, the staff, primarily the guards, become targets of the prisoners anger, and there are frequent instances of assaults and stabbings, and the custody staff becomes very angry and resentful. All of these feelings spill out into society and simply result in more crime in the end.

Punishment does NOT work but many people want it anyway in order to placate their own and and resentment. It just leads to more violence and crime, disability, recidivism, and higher costs.

[pethouse]

For those who are serving life than it doesn’t matter. For those who are not serving life should be categorized so to the nature of the crim. Half of the day should be schooled. Sort of like a treatment where they have to learn what they did, the impact they had on the communities, victims, their own families and themselves, why they did it, and how to not do it. Then the other half of the day should be work. I don’t think they should have choice to do therapy and go to work. I mean most prisons of their prisoners sitting around all day why not make them better themselves and then work to reduce the cost of imprisonment. And if they refuse then put the in solitary confinement.

[Sevenpointfive]

it's a good topic to discuss. a life sentence in a prison shouldn't be something like a spa vacation, but hell on earth isn't something that i wish on anyone. you either send them to hell or let them go. i think prison is the worst of our society. we have australia. that's proof enough that people change. i don't know how women got there though. how did they make babies in australia?

[OddBeMe]

Historically they Brits turned Aussie into a colony and paid for people to start over there. Don’t think it was a penal colony for that long.

[DrPepper12]

No body wants to pay for policies that work. Lock em up. Suffer incredible violence. Steal from them financially. Exploit labor. Make them unemployable upon exit. Continue harassment on the outside.

Oh and the best part? It's from the PRIVATIZED prison industry that is GUARANTEED by the STATE a minimum number of prisoners for it's non union labor.

America is a disgusting, offensive dystopia.

[Juxtapose]

People want to be mean to prisoners but they don't realize that just turns prison into a criminal college. It's also right now a rape den and a place where people self segregate based on race.

Losing your freedom should be the punishment and the treatment should be for the sake of civilization.

[andreasderjuengere]

Privatize prisons:

this way the inmates can decide what kind of life they have there.

This also will generate additional tax income for the ''Government''

This funny century is about making money - ''justice'' is secondary.

[Alexandrubaschet08]

Harsh, there are people who deserve a better life then thous criminals. There had been reported of case of people doing crimes in order to have such a confortable life in Scandinavia.

[KrakenAttackin]

Prison should escalate in severity, starting with assessment and treatment up to life in super max/death penalty.

I think the Scandinavian system does have some merit for early offenders, but hardened criminals need to be locked away.

[jshm2]

Doesn't matter as they are prisons, not resorts.

[msc545]

Almost every prisoner will return to society at some point. Do you want an angry dysfunctional person living next to you?

[elaphe]

I don't think they should be abused or have horrible living conditions, but I also don't think that prisoners should have things like air conditioning and big screen TVs.

[OtterMan68]

The should be about rehabilitation to prevent recidivism.

[Dargil]

Is crime victimhood a pleasant experience?