re: #217 researchok

But that is not the case- huge efforts were put into rehabilitation efforts

No.

ugh, this really needs a page and I don’t have time.

A lot of money went into rehab after the big prison riots of the 1960s. And things did get better - we did see improved recidivism rates. (We also saw improvements in prison violence rates, but that’s not the current subject.) However, that rehab was a first splurge. It was a trial that didn’t get full expansion. It also did not grow at the same rates as prison populations grew. Starting in the 1970s and the “tough on crime/liberals coddling prisoners” political games the moneys put into rehab actually declined.

The worst, as already noted, was that there were various programs run as trials that showed great returns. But because they put rehab above imprisonment (and they moved where money went, and they weren’t ‘tough on crime’) they didn’t get expanded.

They were huge efforts when considered in isolation. When considered next to what was needed they were a pittance — and they were not continued.