[28mm]

I think it's a stretch to say the system worked well in this case. Even if you accept the charges and sentencing, the correctional system clearly fails in its goal of rehabilitation.

Michael (the subject of the article) has only limited access to books, while in prison. education is shown to reduce recidivism, but Michael is limited to courses that don't require hardcover books. (Not many courses, in my experience.)

Few employers will seriously consider felons for jobs, and it is hard not to see this as a contributing factor to his recidivism and death.

I don't think the system worked here, very well, at all.

[thereisnospork]

How much can one reasonably expect of the system though? The young man in the article walked out of prison to a job, a co-signed apartment, and a college admission* -- and he still threw his life away. Is there no point where his failure to coexist with society is his own responsibility?

*Not that the system gave these things to him, but clearly it wouldn't have mattered if they had.