what's the counterfactual? How can you tell the difference between "criminals are undeterred by prison and will commit offenses no matter what" and "prison hardens criminals and does not help with their reinsertion"?
Yea, I bet recidivism is low in Norway, who also has a very small chapter of MS13 or whatever gang you like, coincidentally.
I disagree you can look to some other country and make a fair comparison. The only way to do it would be to look at rates before and after some policy change.
There’s a reason we have so many violent gangs in the US. We don’t take care of people the way other countries do, and we take advantage of every marginalized population we can.