Prisons are barbaric and obsolete

[Medius]

I'm certainly on board with decriminalizing victimless crimes and finding alternative punishments for non-violent crimes, but the OP said prisons were "unnecessary".

There are some really bad people out there, violent offenders who we can't have in society. What the heck do we do with them if there are no prisons at all?

[Aaron]

[Medius]

[eynon81]

some people belong in cages.

[Medius]

[broken robot]

[broken robot]

[exploited]

Meh, this issue has already been settled by social scientists and criminal justice experts.

Certain rehabilitation programs work. Those that focus on treatment, voluntary interaction and the welfare of the criminal work. Those that are designed by moron conservatives - "Scared Straight" type programs - don't. Punishment doesn't work and produces more crime and more criminals.

That is really all you need to know. There is no need to engage in some sort of "big picture," century-long analysis of what prison means to our society, how they are formed, relationships between inmates and guards, etc. That shit has already been done, the results are already in. Similarly, there is no need to concern yourself with whether or not we are "treating prisoners like humans" by punishing them enough. Both ways of thinking about the issue are horribly obsolete, and that is because we already know everything we need to know about what works and what doesn't, it is just a matter of implementing changes.

[Medius]

[eynon81]