> It actually becomes a self reinforcing cycle if staying in prison makes you an even worse That's certainly one of the tenants that leads people to believe th

> It actually becomes a self reinforcing cycle if staying in prison makes you an even worse That's certainly one of the tenants that leads people to believe that removing prison from the equation helps. I think that it relies on the false presumption that going after theft equals prison. They should have the stolen goods taken from them, ideally a financial punishment along the lines of treble damages, and locked up in jail (not prison) as this gets processed. When it comes to "thug took some goods from store" it shouldn't be a matter of holding them in some sort of "improvement chamber". They need a swift and affirmative punishment and to be left with less than they started with when the process is done.