Difference Between A Jail And A State Reformatory?

[HarleyDog]

(01-19-2019, 04:47 PM)grampahol Wrote: And on the same hand we expect people who have spent 10 years locked up in such an environment to be able to just turn it off once released.
Part of the problem (in my mind anyway) is we've made prison and punishment out of mind, out of sight by putting prisons so far away from population centers which makes it extremely difficult for family and friends (and attorneys) to visit inmates which in turn allows us to keep prison populations to remain ever increasing. 
Not that it'll ever happen, but imagine if every prison build had to be right downtown where everyone was acutely aware of them. We might start thinking of crime and punishment quite differently.  After all it's not AS IF 1000s break out of prison every single day to terrorize the local citizenry. 

Not quite where I thought you were going with this. TBH, not sure why housing criminals in the face of the public they committed crimes against helps anything? Specially when victims of rape and families of murder victims may have to walk/drive by the place everyday, or living in a home knowing someone who killed your child lives 2 blocks away? That would be devastating to so many.

There are different levels of prisons in many cases which people are sentenced based on the severity of their crimes. In most cases, you don’t go to prison without harming others in some fashion. Now, I don’t think a guy who cheated on his taxes should be celled with a murderer, and I don’t know if any state allows such things, but generally you know when your breaking the law and have a good idea of the severity of the punishment if caught.

Prisons should be kept outside of communities. Not so people forget they exist, but so fears are calmed that they have been removed from society.

WTS, your first point hits home. How does a guy/gal become a valued citizen in the community without the proper rehabilitation? Fighting for survival and maintaining your butt from invasion is not good rehabilitation. If ever released, there’s a good chance your going back because they are probably worse exiting than they were when entering.

Not even sure there is a solution to all this but better parenting. But heck, even bad people had great parents. There is so much crime in the world to rehabilitate maybe, who knows? Most of the funding probably goes to creating more space.