Originally Posted by
Katie
It may seem bizarre to you and me, but there are people who LIKE prison. My uncle has been in and out of jail for like thirty years (no violent crimes, just drugs and theft and stuff) and he has said that he prefers being in jail to being in the real world. There he doesn't have to worry about a job, or where his next meal is going to come from, or where he's going to sleep at night. Just because most people would find like in jail abhorrent doesn't mean that there aren't people who actually thrive in prison. Granted, most prisons in the United States are focused on punishment and not rehabilitation, but people are able to get steady jobs (which they get paid poorly for, but still) and an education that they wouldn't have necessarily been able to get outside of prison. Last I heard, Charles Manson was planning on getting married soon even though he's serving a life sentence. As much as we'd like to assume that all people immediately feel remorse and slowly go crazy for the rest of their lives while in prison, it's simply not (usually) the case.
I personally think that in cases like these, where there was a wanton disregard for life and no remorse for actions taken, a government should be able to take a life. I would rather my taxes go towards rehabilitating prisoners who actually stand a chance of eventually being contributing members of society than to feeding, housing, educating, and entertaining sociopaths.