> It's not a fetish... it's the point. If government promises to punish transgressors, then individuals will refrain from vigilante justice. Punishment itself

> It's not a fetish... it's the point. If government promises to punish transgressors, then individuals will refrain from vigilante justice. Punishment itself isn't the problem, some people should be punished with prison time. The people who fetishize punishment aren't content with restricting people's freedom, keeping them separated from the their loved ones, and having years of their life lost. They know that prisoners are beaten, and raped, and kept in solitary for years, and forced to eat rotten food infested with maggots, and are denied basic hygiene or healthcare, and are being cooked to death in cells without AC, and they'll actively oppose any efforts to improve conditions for inmates. We knowingly allow prisoners to be tortured year after year and decade after decade and it isn't because nobody wants things to be that way. > Who am I supposed to talk to to get the policy fixes implemented? It's a problem because politicians know it's popular to be as tough on crime and as cruel to prisoners as possible. People like Joe Arpaio (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Arpaio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Arpaio) get elected again and again because they're abusive sadists hurting the "right kind of people". If you can find someone willing to run on prison reform you can back them, but otherwise all you can do is reach out to your representatives. Your proposed policy fixes all seem like great ideas.