>Are you suggesting they should go unpunished? I believe he is suggesting there are other methods which are more effective, less costly, and meet current societal goals. Remember that prison is partly about punishment, but to society, we just want productive people who do stuff that falls into the category of pro-social behaviors.

>The suggestion that the threat of imprisonment does not act as a deterrent to criminal activity is absurd. I think that this point cannot really be proven anyway, so I will let it lie.

>Do you really not see "I'm here because I screwed up. I probably should try to not screw up in the future." going through the mind of prisoners as they sit in their cells? Maybe? Who cares? The actual thing I am interested in is recidivism, and according to pew:

About 43 percent of prisoners who were let out in 2004 were sent back to prison by 2007, either for a new crime or violating the conditions of their release, the study found. That number was down from 45 percent during a similar period beginning in 1999.

So we are sitting at 43% re-offend AFTER going to prison... looks like our system works!