Well, I so see Jimlads' point, since as population grows and urban tensions increase as ethnic problems keep growing, we WILL have more & more individuals sentenced to long prison terms. It is a serious question how fast we will have to build more prisons and pay for them...and find competent people to man them (competing with regular police depts. for personell.)

I am as in favor of "... justice, decency and care for those who need it," as the next guy...in theory, anyway. I, frankly, have no idea what to do with rows of cells filled with the worst dregs of society....men (mostly) who now have a hobby of trying to kill OTHER men in competing prison gangs, or guards, if they can manage.....and who continue to participate in and run illegal crime from their prison cells!

A lot of the current practices for dealing with crime, sentencing and prison are akin to defining what the solution should be before determining what the problem is! Having a fair, honest, humane, concerned prison system is an admirable goal...but it 'may' be a luxury we can't afford forever.

   We can either figure out how to make society better, so that fewer people are sent to prison, or we can keep struggling with more & more prisons with higher costs and even less ability to do any rehabilitation.

Yes, I know ALL the arguments against capital punishment, and even agree with some of them...but I'm afraid pragmatism may trump idealism one of these days.