Prison is not as beneficial as other legal action

Thanks to Pro for posting this debate. I'm excited to get into some debating. (I'm going to assume you are talking about the U.S. prison system.) First, lets take a look at how the U.S. prison system really works. Being sent to prison is a very common punishment for serious crimes (a.k.a. felonies.) The role of a prison is essentially a three-pronged attack against crime. It is a deterrent to crime (because criminals don't want their freedoms taken away), a safety measure to prevent criminals from preventing more crimes, and a way to rehabilitate and fix the problems which lead to prison in the first place, namely education. The prison system has three levels of security. Maximum (which all my opponents arguments are based on), medium, and minimum. Minimum security prisons are quite lax and are arranged like college campuses. These prisons contain non-violent felony offenders with good records (first-timers) or those who showed good behavior while in a higher security prison. Medium security prisoners are more secure, and are like dormitories surrounded by a security fence. These prisons contain prisoners higher up on the criminal food chain, but still not the likes of hardcore murderers or violent gang members. These types of criminals end up in maximum security prisons. My opponent literally bases all of his arguments off of this type of prison. The funny thing is, only about one fourth of U.S. prisoners are in maximum security prisons. Maximum security prisons are where you have violent prison riots, snipers in guard towers, small prison cells, and the whole "bar of soap" ordeals. These prisoners are still allowed to roam around the prison and prison yard for the majority of the day though. They also are given prison jobs, can take courses to obtain a GED or take vocational training, and purchase items from the prison commissary. I will concede that there are problems with the prison system, but it is clearly not as terrible as my opponent makes it out to be. Prison reform is a hot topic as well. Prisoner abuse is being cracked down on and prison conditions are constantly being improved. Now I will move on to rebuttal. REBUTTALS "First off, prisons put criminals in with other criminals, who are often a bad influence on each other, and often lead to the radicalization and hardening of criminals." I understand this concern, however, my opponent is making a reach when he says that the radicalization of criminals is common. I would like some proof of this claim. As of now, it is an ill-supported assertion. "Furthermore, prisoners are subject to abuse, not by the guards, but by their fellow inmates, making life in prison a living hell." While this may have some truth in it, prison abuse is not allowed in prisons and is corrected by harsh punishments. The prison system can hardly be blamed for the actions of hardcore criminals. "The criminal justice system in the United States is so cruel, it puts mentally ill people in prison, which can not be tolerated by a country that stands for human rights, as mentally ill people are obviously not fit to be in prison," I agree that this is a problem. However, the solution isn't the abandonment of prisons altogether, that's ridiculous. The solution is fixing the current system and identifying the severely mentally ill before they are sent to prisons. "To continue, the prison system drives inmates insane, what with the solitude, being locked up in a small space with people that constantly rape you, having nothing to do or no one to talk to, being subject to intense discipline by the guards, etc. it has been proven to drive people insane, leading many to hunger strikes." This whole statement is quite faulty. I think "people constantly raping you" is a bit of an exaggeration. Also, prisoners have plenty to do and plenty of people to talk to. As I have previously shown, they are assigned prison jobs, they can work toward obtaining a general (GED) or vocational education, and can recreate in the prison yard. I severely hope my opponent isn't getting this idea from SuperMax prisons, which make up an extremely small portion of U.S. prisons. My opponent also says that "it" has been proven to drive people insane. I won't accept this statement without some sort of proof. And seriously, what is the correlation between prisoner insanity and hunger strikes? "Also, there are punishments to replace these punishments, such as flogging, death, house arrest, fines, and forcing a thief to work for the person he stole from, and mental rehab, the most underutilized of all." This statement made me chuckle. Flogging and death? Are you serious? Let me explain the logic behind that. Some prisoners have bad living conditions, so lets beat them with hickory rods like Clint Eastwood in Pale Rider (no thanks) or kill them. As far as house arrest, fines, and forced labor, are almost as ridiculous as flogging. The government can't be expected to monitor millions of dangerous criminals, talk about excessive spending. Fines wouldn't work for poor criminals, which represent a good amount of criminals. Fines would just lead them and their families to more poverty, which is not the goal of the prison system. Also, forcing thieves to work for those they stole from? Maybe that would be fine for ornery junior high petty thieves but I don't think anyone wants hardcore criminals working at banks. I think it is funny that you listed mental rehab in a list of "punishments," but I'll let that go. Mental rehab is a good alternative for the mentally ill, but what about everyone else? The U.S. needs a prison system. Its unfortunate and seemingly cruel, but an imperfect world demands an imperfect system. "Lastly, there are tow types of criminals in prison: one, the hardcore criminal with nor regrets, such as by murdering a gang rival, or the misguided one, who made a stupid mistake one day and is an otherwise normal person (such as the tax evader ) but is thrust into the worst hell on earth (worse than the religious hell, if you ask me). Do you really wanna mix these two groups? Are they really the same?" Of course they aren't the same. That's why the U.S. system is divided into three security levels. Despite my opponents movie-influenced view of prison, hardcore criminals aren't in the same prisons as people who made "stupid mistakes" and aren't a major threat to society. These groups aren't mixed! It's as simple as that. My opponent has an oversimplified view on the prison system. He doesn't understand how it works or why it exists. He isn't even debating against the idea of prison. He is simply saying that because the U.S. prison systems has problems, it must be abolished. That's not sound logic. The punishments he lists as alternatives are ridiculous. That's because there is no strong alternative to prison. Back to Pro.