If prison was like a holiday camp, there would be no deterrent for crimes.
In the United Kingdom & Ireland, sentences are very, very weak and in many cases do not fit the seriousness of the crimes.
Many repeat offenders can do virtually anything and know that the worst case scenario is somewhere between 2.5 and 7.5 years.
There needs to be more of a disincentive. Prisoners piss and whine about prisons now. Maybe they should pick up a book and read about how bleak prisons were before WW2.
The deterrent is that many people have a values system and wronging others is not part of it. In America we have the highest rate of incarceration in the world, a government you cannot win against, and the death penalty in some states. And what does it get us? I dare guess our recidivism rates are the highest in the developed world...
The problem is that for most Americans upward mobility has either never existed or has ceased to exist. Thus, no more incentive to do it the way the government says. Not just talking about drug dealing and violence, but small businesses cheating on taxes just to survive is also a federal crime, for instance. I guarantee you businesses cheating on taxes to survive is more rampant in this country than you can imagine. Joe the hardware store owner is probably guilty of committing federal tax crimes. Same for Tom the farmer. And Jesse running his landscaping company.
So essentially the fabric of our communities is in many ways inherently criminal, whether people choose to view it that way or not. This country thrives on incentives and rewards. Incentives exist more now in the gray and black than in the white for a growing number of Americans. All the prisons and the harshest penalties in the world will not, cannot, change this.
As far as pre-WWII prisons, so what? Because they were bad 100 years ago makes it ok that they are bad now?
