[Azred]

It doesn't depend upon what kind of prison system you have; rather, it depends upon the individual person. Some people decide that "enough is enough" and get out, straighten out their lives, and never go back; as an example, consider Danny Trejo--he went from prison to a successful movie career. There are others--the career criminals--who get out, commit more crimes, get sentenced, serve their time, get out, and repeat the process over and over until they die or wind up being given a life sentence.

Every now and then we get stories of minimum security Federal prisons that have libraries, swimming pools, or golf course access and we roll our eyes because we don't think of that as "prison". To us, prison means thick concrete walls, bars on everything, a rec yard or workout room, and knifings in the lunch hall.

As far as Saudi Arabia having a low crime rate because of extreme punishments...no system of laws in the history of mankind has ever deterred crime. Even if you make "public execution" the punishment for every crime you will still have people breaking the law because they are betting that they won't get caught.

This guy blew up a building to misdirect law enforcement and emergency responders, dressed like a cop, and then shot teenagers at close range because he thought this would jump-start some anti-Mulsim conflict. He meets the definition of "terrorist" so I don't think he deserves rehabilitation--put him in a windowless 8x10 cell for the rest of his life and let him regret his actions. As another possibility, exile him to some island then drop off weekly food rations--this would be less expensive than keeping him in prison and it would remove him from civilized society without resorting to the death penalty (since many people don't support it).