One of the problems is that if you or I went to prison then yeah we'd consider it horrible but for a lot of the prison population it isn't. For instance in my unit of 60 there are about 5 prisoners in here who, while they need to be away from the general population, should in my opinion be in a secured hospital facility instead of a prison but they're safer here then they would be if left to their own devices if they were released
I don't even want to think about the amount of women that should have longer sentences because, again, once they're released they'll go back to family violence, being pimped out, back on drugs etc etc but they're safer here
Before we even consider reforming the corrections department (we really should) we need to understand that prison is the hospital at the bottom of the hill not the guard at the top of the hill. What I mean is consider everything that has to happen before someone is sentenced to a term in prison:
Some guy has to impregnate some girl and the guy does a runner and the kid is more likely to go to prison)
The pregnant girl may not have best nutrition, may drink, may take drugs, may smoke and all of which may affect the kids development in the womb
So even before the kid is born they're behind the eight ball
Will the kid get decent medical attention
Will the kid have a decent homelife
Now the kid goes to school
Will the kid learn to read or write, is the kid able to concentrate due to lack of sleep, food, gangs, undiagnosed learning difficulties, lack of parental support etc etc
Will the kid get any help for the above, will the kid even attend school
Kid gets a bit older and will start to speak to the police, psychiatrists/psychologists /counsellors or maybe they won't...
Kid goes through the justice system but do they get any support or help?
Any support for addiction or mental health issues?
Because in NZ:
'The National Study also revealed that nearly 60 percent of all inmates have at least one major personality disorder.'
'The National Study also revealed that 90 percent of those with major mental disorders also had a substance abuse disorder. Of the total prison population, 89.4 percent have a current substance abuse or dependence diagnosis; 35 percent of these inmates have received treatment for the abuse disorder since they have been in prison.'
https://www.corrections.govt.nz/resources/research_and_statistics/national-study-psychiatric-morbidity-in-nz-prisons#:~:text=Of%20the%20total%20prison%20population,re%2Doffending%20amongst%20offender%20populations.
So look at everything could be done before that kid is 18 and steps inside prison the first time because its easy to point the finger and say look how bad Corrections is but its much harder to think that these issues have been building up for decades, have been known about for decades and been ignored for decades by political parties on both sides of the political spectrum