Welcome to the world's nicest prison.

[backscatter712]

22. The problem with punishment is that it just doesn't work.

If it did, you'd think that the War on Drugs would be wildly successful, or that Texas would have the lowest murder rate in the country.

But the fact is that punishment gives the punisher a nice emotional buzz, like the one you were having when you wrote that post. Punishing a son-of-a-bitch feels GOOD! It makes you feel POWERFUL!, but aside from that, does nothing to deter crime.

Since we're imprisoning them, and since most of them are not serving life sentences, you'd think society would want these people to be able to function in a way that isn't destructive and antisocial, which implies rehabilitation. That means we would need prisons that are not gladiator schools. If rehabilitation isn't something you're willing to invest in, then the alternative is to give almost every prisoner a life sentence to protect the public.