What is the purpose of correctional institutions?

PLC1

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The name implies correcting something. Is the purpose to correct unlawful behavior?
If that's so, then they fail miserably.

Is the purpose to keep dangerous criminals away from the rest of society?
If that's so, then they fail every time they let a dangerous criminal out.

Is the purpose punishment for crimes?
If that's so, then there must be a less expensive way to punish people for crimes.

Is the purpose to deter crime?
Same as punishment: If the potential punishment is not worth it, presumably people won't commit crimes.

But, they do commit crimes, so deterrence doesn't seem to be working very well either.

Or, is there some other purpose I've missed?
 
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The point is equal parts seperate on and deterrance. And they suck at both because of some silly notion of correcting behavior. And Lawyers making money.
Prison needs to be so god awful mind numbing nobody wants to ever go back.
But in order for that to work you have to be able to pay your debt to society and gave the slate wiped. Now prisons create career criminals because it's near impossible to be accepted back into society.
 
The point is equal parts seperate on and deterrance. And they suck at both because of some silly notion of correcting behavior. And Lawyers making money.
Prison needs to be so god awful mind numbing nobody wants to ever go back.
But in order for that to work you have to be able to pay your debt to society and gave the slate wiped. Now prisons create career criminals because it's near impossible to be accepted back into society.
True enough. They also create career criminals by putting criminals together were the more accomplished ones can mentor the rest in how to be a successful criminal.
 
True enough. They also create career criminals by putting criminals together were the more accomplished ones can mentor the rest in how to be a successful criminal.
The Germans gad a great system. You went in the most spartan of cells, you stayed in it 24x7 and got 30 minutes every week in a courtyard surrounded by building. Tore up your "mattress" and you didn't get another. But at the end there was no criminal record and people did not want to go back.
No interaction, a book off the cart if you don't tear them up. Just a whole lot of time to regret what you did. Repeat visits very rare.
 
The Germans gad a great system. You went in the most spartan of cells, you stayed in it 24x7 and got 30 minutes every week in a courtyard surrounded by building. Tore up your "mattress" and you didn't get another. But at the end there was no criminal record and people did not want to go back.
No interaction, a book off the cart if you don't tear them up. Just a whole lot of time to regret what you did. Repeat visits very rare.
How Germany Does Prison
Pictures of European prisons can be shocking, at least here in the United States. After all, eight of Buzzfeed’s “14 Prisons That Will Make You Question What You Think About Serving Time” were in Europe, and last fall, Business Insider told us, “An American Warden Visited A Norwegian Prison, And He Couldn't Believe What He Saw.” Fed a steady diet of The Shawshank Redemption and Orange is the New Black, American readers know their own prisons are bleak places. So these images—of well-stocked kitchens, pottery studios, and cells that look like college dorm rooms—are a reminder of how starkly different correctional systems can be.

The point of all this, Wetzel added, is to figure out what’s causing prisoners to commit crimes so you can find out how to make sure they’re less likely to commit more once they leave prison, thereby protecting the public. “It almost smacked me in the face when they said that public safety is a logical consequence of a good corrections system, and not the other way around.”

Things have changed in Germany.
 
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