The Prison System

I've never been to prison and by the special grace of God, I never will. So my knowledge on this topic might feel a lot limited, but this is why I have a question about it.

But you see, I've never really understood the concept of locking a bunch of criminals together in a cell, and just leaving them there, then when they're done doing their time, you set them free into the freeworld, without trying to reform this people, or give them certain education or treatments that could help change them to become better people, so that when they do come out of prison, they can be a lot more responsible and not go back to being criminals.

Of course I'm talking based on the few knowledge I have concerning my country's prison system (which is one of the worse out there), but isn't it just kinda useless if all you're going to do is lock this people up, and then release them only to go continue the same thing that got them locked up in the first place?

_{photo by Matthew Ansley}

Earlier this evening, while I was sitting outside, I had overheard someone shouting at the top of his voice on the street. When I looked to see who it was, it turned out it was a guy who used to be a lot of trouble here back in the day, until he got arrested and was taken away.

From the things he was shouting out, he claimed to have been locked up for two years for doing nothing (he was a known criminal in the area and had even tried to steal my friend's generator), but that he's back now and he was going to have the last laugh...so basically, he was threatening everyone in the community.

As I watched him say all those things before walking away, I could tell that the two years he claimed to have spent in prison were clearly wasted. He didn't get no education, no skill acquisition training, nothing at all that could have made him come out a much more better person than who he was when he first went in there.

Rather, I'm sure he will return back to his criminal ways, while the rest of us here now have to sleep with one eye open, or risk losing something that belongs to us.

Anyways, is it also the same thing in your country, or do prisoners get reformed and provided the means to learn certain skills that could help them out there in the free world?