I am probably mistaken on this point but I’d say one of the first acts of political correctness in this country was to rename criminal punishment to criminal rehabilitation. Crime and punishment go hand in hand and punishment is the price for the crime. End of story. Rehabilitating a criminal by giving them an air conditioned environment and all the other luxuries of motel living and three squares is why the correctional recidivism in this country is so damned high. Per Sheriff Joe, an American hero, do the crime and be prepared to do the time. Prison time ought to be hard time so they choose on their own to find another career. Bernie Sanders is sucking rocks on this one.
Punishment and rehabilitation are not and never have been mutually exclusive.
With incarceration punishment is clear. Calling it rehabilitation implies that something else is being done.
As to the effectiveness of the rehabilitation component, well, different approaches have different levels of effectiveness. Also, some people just can’t be rehabilitated. If they can’t be rehabilitated then efforts to do so may really tick them off. I’m okay with it ticking them off because I see it as more punishment.
For all the clamor of Christians to get involved in the affairs of government, it seems superficial. This is one of the places where this could help, but few want to deal (or are capable of dealing) with the spiritual grit and dirt.
The way of the world is just to wish a vengeance. Modern societies discovered that vengeance works in cycles, however, without the grudge ever getting resolved on either side. And so their penal ideas became more humane.
Yet there is a reason for the “penitent” in the modern term “penitentiary.”
I think a Christian “penitence program” with measurable attitudinal results could in fact speed the passage of prisoners through such a system, but it would have to be voluntary. Other faiths could mount their own efforts if they wished.
Probably Arpaio’s ideas would tend to drive ex-prisoners out of HIS area. But that’s just to wish the grudges he has created on the rest of America.