[sickpig]

The main function of prisons is to keep the criminals away from law-abiding society

Really? I thought it was about correcting/reforming.

[bradleyjg]

The four recognized purposes of punishment are: deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, and retribution. Which is primary, or even whether they are all legitimate is a matter of fierce debate.

[nyhc99]

So an 18 year old kid gets busted for a drug offense. He gets thrown in jail for several years along with hardened and violent criminals. His "rehabilitation" consists of an immersion in a world of criminality, and when he is finally released, he has a record that will stay with him for the rest of his life and severely limit his choices moving forward.

Yes, he's been reformed. Just not in a good way. Not in a way that does anything to try to fit him back into society.

[speeder]

Depends on the country maybe? Here in Brazil no one believes criminals can be fixed, here we want them away, locked up or dead.

[sickpig]

They should change name from correctional facilities to something else then.

Joking aside, I think that using prisons just for isolation is a waste of tax payer money.

Just think about at the case at hand, we are wasting the money needed to keep this guy in jail for another 8 decades with no actual reasons.

edit: fix grammar

[speeder]

Where, here in Brasil they are not called Correctional Facility!

In fact the only place where I saw "Correctional Facility" was in US-movies and series, I thought it was some fictional name or something like that.

[mod]

What's the alternative, in your mind?

[caf]

It's not a matter of belief, it is a matter of demonstrable fact that some criminals are capable of completely reforming. To deny this is simply to deny reality.

(It is also clearly apparent that some criminals are unreformable - telling the difference a priori remains the hard part).