A better prison system

[dimpy.handa]

A recent opinion poll showed the British public wants harsher prison conditions; they don't agree with the Government's response to over-population and reoffending by pushing through far-reaching reforms which emphasise shorter sentences while placing prisoners in a working environment.
And yet, an extensive new study undertaken by researchers across all the Nordic countries reveals that the reoffending average across Europe is about 70-75 per cent. In Denmark, Sweden and Finland, the average is 30 per cent. In Norway it is 20 per cent. Thus Bastoy, at just 16 per cent, has the lowest reoffending rate in Europe.


Should other nations adopt the methods used at Bastoy which are based on treating prisoners decently, or should we continue to brutalize and dehumanize prisoners in the mistaken belief that harsh punishment prevents further crimes and makes communities safer? We know treating prisoners compassionately works if the goal is returning people to society, and we know brutalizing them does not.

 

[shivibhanot]

The US criminal justice system is a travesty of justice, no question. But for this thread, I'm more interested in how people who are confined to prisons are treated.

One school of thought is that treating prisoners as harsh as possible prevents crime. But the evidence seems to support the notion that a humanitarian approach actually reduces future crime and makes communities safer.

At any rate, a prison system that is based on treating people as harshly as possible, and does not prevent future crimes or make communities safer is immoral. It is not morally justifiable, let me suggest, to treat people cruelly merely because it makes us feel good.