Are prisons to soft?

sports halls, libraries, TV, conjugal visits, day release, workshops, drug rehab, councillers, pastoral ministers, legal aid & so on. why not throw them in a pit & leave them their?

James & Dave: Ive never seen the inside of a prison but if my daughter was raped & killed(as an e.g.) would knowing that her killer had his stuffed nicked by his cellmate make me pity him...I think not.

They are far to soft, it's supposed to be a punishment not a visit to a holiday camp

In the 18th century, when starving children were hanged for stealing a loaf of bread they never got as far as prison. When prisons were places of harsh punishment, most of the prisoners who survived reoffended immediately on release. I applaud the present move towards education and rehabilitation; the punitive methods don't work, let's try something different. There will always be a hard core of criminals in every society but that's no reason not to try to turn criminals into respectable (and respectful) people.

The old argument is that being sent to prison is the punishment not what happens to you inside.
Prison is no longer a deterrent.
Misguided and against what most people think but hey we live in a democracy and dont like being cruel to people just because they break the rules.
Time to change I think rehabilitation is as likely as the second coming for 99% of inmates!

I believe they are, and we the taxpayers are paying for all of this. Prison is suppose to be a "sentence" for very bad behavior. The things these prisoners get, well let's just say there are some in this country, working hard that do not have any access to what our prisoners do. I call that a crime in itself.

If they were they would be too soft not to soft.
You don't get conjugal visits in the UK.
I have visited many prisons a lot of them are horrible places.
don't believe what the daily mail tells you.
The punishment is being locked up.

go and ask my son...he was involved in the improvements to Norwich prison and was gob smacked at the luxury they lived in. the quality of the TVs and computers, the furnishings and infrastructure. it made him as angry as hell for months.

They are too soft for violent criminals who should be housed in special prisons where facilities are limited to essentials only - bed, food and drink.

Yes, and believe it or not, some inmates in federal prisons get "vacations" from prison !!

have you thought about working for them,you have the right mentality,maybe guantanamo

the fact that chances are their lives are ruined is probably enough

Yes!!

... and leave them their what?

Are you crazy...you ever been to a prison library? It's brutal in there. All those words...enough to break a man.

No they're not. It is true that some prisons have a soft regime, but the vast majority of prisons are overcrowded hell holes. I work in criminal defence and not one prisoner has ever said that they like it there. What they do say is is that they are locked up for 23 hours a day, that they are trying to get a job or education, but cannot. That they have been behaving themselves to try to get a TV, but they keep cancelling the meeting.

That their cell mate is an addict, and takes all his property off him. That he is getting picked on and beaten up, but he can't tell the wardens, as they are the one's doing the beating.

Worst of all, sometimes their parents tell me that their son has been found dead in his cell.

I'm not trying to say that my client's are angels, or do not deserve to go to prison, a lot of them do. I'm just saying that prison is harsh. Anyone else who has been insdie and says otherwise is full of bravado, or institutionalised.

EDIT: oh look, there's a surprise. I have thumbs down. I'm not trying to be populist, and I don't expect people to appreciate my opinion. I am just going on experience.

2nd EDIT: I'm in the UK by the way

3rd EDIT: How about if your son or daughter made a mistake in life, and due to public policy, were remanded into custody for the duration of proceedings? Not everyone in prison is evil, some are people who have made mistakes. I'm not saying that everyone inside deserve sympathy or pity, but some are people just like you and me who have made stupid decisions