"the prisons are full and the country can't afford any more"

Neither can we afford to let feral criminal arsonists, looters and murderers go unpunished.

"If sending people to prison worked, the USA would have a low crime rate."

For fuck's sake Richard, for a man who claims to be well-educated you are unbelievably thick - they go to prison because they are criminals, not vice-versa. They are criminals first, they don't send innocents to prison to then be turned into criminals. Leopards don't change their spots. Prisons work by removing arseholes from society. They can't burn, loot and murder while they're locked up. What on earth is so difficult to understand about that? Instead of Greek and Latin, those posh schools ought to give a few classes in common sense.

"Beating a dog does not housetrain it. Have you tried it?"

I didn't mention beating a dog, Richard, you brought that in - maybe that's a clue to your, shall we say "unusual", personality? 'Punish' was the word I used, and there are ways to punish and impress the rules on a dog that don't involve any form of physical assault or brutality. I've lived a great deal of my life with dogs, breeds which some claim are vicious and dangerous - always treated them with love and respect and never had a moment's trouble with any of them. Fair, firm and humane 'Punishment' doesn't indicate a lack of love or respect, rather it's the failure to correct and enforce rules that indicates neglect. As with dogs, so with criminals.

Now, I'm tired of this silly game of verbal sword-fencing and I've got a very nice guitar waiting for me to give it a beating.

Enjoy the rest of your evening.