A perverse and scary outlook they might possibly have: keep prison conditions in a way so that you continue to see high recidivism rates. Because if the prisoners keep coming back, that means you have easy repeat business.

There is of course concrete evidence to the contrary, as experiments in Scandinavian countries show. Treat prisoners with respect, give them a dignified place of living so they can think about what they did, and you'll find that actually both improves their mental condition and makes them very well suited to rejoin society.