I wish we saw prison as a process of preparing people to be productive members of society. Prisoners should at least have the opportunity to learn about making healthy decisions , what triggers anger, ways of controlling/dealing with anger, ways to combat substance abuse, and maybe some kind of skill so they have a chance at employment after release.
But no. We need to focus everything on punishment. The more inhumane the better. Then when you throw private for profit prisons into the mix now there’s an economic insensitive to treat prisoners horribly. (1) it’s cheaper & (2) it increases recidivism rates so that means more money for the shareholders.