Quote:
Originally posted by Gangrell:
The point of it is, to put them through as much hell as possible so they won't go back.
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Well, I have no hard evidence to back this up, but it seems to me that most of the maximum security prison in the U.S. are pretty harsh places, but I'm sure the repeat offender rate is pretty high still.
Just because you make a punishment really bad, doesn't mean everyone will avoid it. Some people are "forced" into lives of crime, whether it be from economics, upbringing, family influence etc. I'm not trying to make excuses for offenders, I'm just saying that if they were behaving rationally, no one would commit a crime after spending a week in a prison like San Quentin.
In the latest issue of the L.A. Weekly the cover article is about a US attorney who is using the RICO statutes to go after the Aryan Brotherhood, which is the most violent prison gang in the U.S. I forget the exact numbers, but the government is saying that the AB is responsible for something like 50-55 murders/executions over the last 10-15 years or so. The interesting thing is, most of these murders were committed either by people on parole (hits on snitches on the outside) or by people serving less than life sentences. My point is (assuming the charges are true) that these men, serving say a 10 year sentence, have no problem committing a murder that will most likely result in a life sentence. I find it hard to believe a rationally thinking person would make this decision.
My guess is that prison life is so bad that they feel they have nothing to lose. They must do what they must do to survive in prison, which means joining a gang, which leads to further crime. I'm not saying that prison should be like Candyland, but if you force humans to live in inhuman conditions, you shouldn't be suprised if they turn into animals.