@MRSHINYSHOES if they unlocked the gates to the prisons, how many people would run in, and how many would run out? Prisons aren’t cushy resorts. You may have food, shelter and clothing, but you don’t have your freedom. You can’t go shopping at the mall, or watch your kid graduate, have sex with your girlfriend, go to a bar, hang out with your friends, etc.
And honestly, I think a lifetime in prison without parole is probably a harsher sentence than execution. Which is exactly what murderers and severe offenders deserve. I also think prisons need to find better ways to generate revenue from prison labor in order to defray cost to the state.
Part of me wonders if they renamed “life without parole” to “execution by God”, if more conservatives would change their opinion on the death-penalty.
@unused_bagels I do agree that long-term imprisonment of nonviolent criminals is counter-productive and wasteful. Drug addicts in particular, should be going to rehab facilities.
I have a friend who became addicted to heroin. The judge ordered him into treatment, and he actually turned his life around, and has been clean for several years. Now he is a productive, tax-paying citizen, soon-to-be father, married to a nice woman. Had he been sentenced to prison, the state would have spent a lot of money on him, and I doubt he’d be where he is now. He really is a different person today, so I know rehab is more than just a nice idea.