They are a society, in and of themselves, with their own sub-culture. Many of the value systems are antithetical to a successful reintegration into our society. Current alternatives to incarceration do little to motivate the offender to change his or her activities. No one changes unless they have a strong personal motivation to do so. Although there are SOME people who's freedom poses a significant danger to others, the majority of people in prison are there because our society has no other substantive means of imposing consequences for criminal behavior.
Crime undermines the quality of life in our society.
It destroys lives, families, and neighborhoods. It provides an excuse for those who have little trgard for the liberties which this country was founded upon to get laws enaced which have more of an effect upon the general population than they do upon criminals. Assuming that we agree on the above items, only one conclusion remains. Corporal sentences were the norm LONG after the 8th Amendment was ratified. One of the reasons that prisons turn out people who are worse criminals than they were when they went in is the fact that, in order to avoid being brutalized by their fellow inmates, people are forced to adopt a violent mind-set.