No argument- corrections here is a disaster.

The why is the real debate.

From where I sit, there are too many non violent drug related offenders who have no business being locked up, another huge population of offenders who would be better served in mental health facilities, etc.

Even if you increase the population of mental health professionals in prisons they are still in prison.

Prisons are a very different place than mental health facilities (even secure facilities). They are not conducive to rehabilitation, period. Any prison psychologist or psychiatrist will tell you that. Yes, there is a need for mental health facilities in prisons but there are an enormous number of people who do not belong in prison. They are medicated to the point if being docile but that is stopgap at best.

Medication deals with symptoms and not the underlying problem.

Medication is also cheaper than therapy and prison is cheaper than mental health facilities.

Bratwurst, if people understood the magnitude of problem, they would be outraged.

Yes we need rehabilitation and yes we need punishment (again, a part of the human cultural/societal compact).

We’re failing at both.