I don’t even know where to start. I guess because we as a society agree that we need protection from each other, that punishment is a thing, and that one of the ways we punish/isolate/shame people for transgressions is prison time? And because, if someone has to do it, then that someone ought to be paid to do it?

…not that it’s done properly or humanely though, or that the incentives are commensurate with those ideals. It seems we can’t agree on whether people who have ever shown an ounce of imperfection get to retain their rights. Ah, politics…