Too many questions perhaps?
'Tis only a point of view after all, albeit one that doesn't gloss over how some things really are.
Predominantly it is a statement of how things are in the
UK, not abroad...
I'd like it to not be misconstrued as such, however certain slight passages indicate.
The ideas of punishment versus rehabilitation are tricky. In the main, I come down on the side of rehabilitation 9 out of 10 times. That 1 in 10 is the individual from whom society must be safeguarded against.
What use is prison if it does nothing to ameliorate offending? Except for the time when the prisoner is banged up.
It is well known that contact with the prison system is less likely to prevent crime than it is to teach its graduates how to be better criminals, not just because of who they associate with in prison, but because of what they do not learn about knowledge or behaviour with their time inside.