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The sad thing is that so many inmates do it over and over, and like welfare, it's like a vicious cycle that continues into the next generation, and the next.

I think this speaks to a failure of inner resources. We have to find out how to instill inner resources, and stop thinking that throwing mere money and Things at problems will fix them.

This is a spiritual problem; and you can't change the past failures of parents and community. But a different sort of environment might lead to spiritual changes in the future, for individuals.

If I were a convict guilty of a serious crime, and really felt regret and a desire to change - I'm not sure that staring at cinderblock walls, getting one hour of sunshine/seeing the sky per day, would do anything to boost my desire. It would just beat me down even more.

We have to change the whole way that we do it. I've often thought that getting the salvageable among these people in touch with the land, and with animals, would change their lives incredibly. I don't know how we'd create a system like that, with security; but we do need to change things, if we aren't going to keep writing thousands of people off as just the flotsam of a failed society.

If we do keep writing them off, in the future WE who decided to do that - willfully or by default - will be the really guilty ones.

In the past, people guilty of crimes and incarcerated were often treated in ways that most people would never tolerate today. We now have laws against 'cruel and unusual punishment'.

But I think that in the future, even our currently 'enlightened' ways will be seen as barbaric. We have to constantly keep trying to go forward, figuring out better ways.

"I'm not sure that staring at cinderblock walls, getting one hour of sunshine/seeing the sky per day, would do anything to boost my desire."

The only inmates who get one hour of sunshine/rec, are those in solitary confinement for disciplinary reasons. Some of those cells may have windows.They can get visits and a limited commissary, library/law books, mail privileges.

"I've often thought that getting the salvageable among these people in touch with the land, and with animals, would change their lives incredibly."

How is that going to change their lives when most of them are from the inner city, and will go back to the inner city, to the same neighborhoods they came from, and where the type of animals I assume you're talking about (land, farm animals?) won't be around. They did have farm programs at some of the prisons in New York, but they were stopped because they weren't prosperous enough. The Superintendent of the last prison I worked at wanted to have a beef farm, but the State shot him down. He had raised beef himself, and thought it would be something positive. The powers that be said no. We have prison industry in New York prisons. It's called Corcraft. According to their website: "Division of Correctional Industries uses manufacturing as a component of DOCCS overall reentry program, which is designed to teach inmates work ethic and skills. Corcraft trains inmates to make a variety of high-quality products at manufacturing shops inside 14 of NYs correctional facilities. These products are then sold to Corcrafts specific customer base, which includes public entities and charitable, not-for-profit organizations that receive tax dollars. Corcraft cannot sell to private parties or organizations."

For example, Auburn prison makes license plates and office furniture.

As far as writing them off...they write themselves off. They settle for status quo, most are happy where they are, and although there are inmates who do work to better themselves, it's not the norm.