I was watching a program last night about Russian prisons and found it to be more in line with how I think prisons in the US should be run.

For the most violent of prisoners were two to a cell with no windows. Doors were triple protected with no way to communicate with the other cells. When they left the cell they were handcuffed and forced to walk bent over. Even outside, when given exercise, they were put in to a cell three times larger than their "home cell" and prevented from seeing the sky.

For lesser crimes, life was not as hard, but still very difficult compared to American prisons. From what I saw, prisons in the USA are a fucking cake walk compared to Russian prisons. No weights, no television, no freedoms. They did the crime, so now they are punished.

While white collar crime in Russia is high, violent crimes have decreased three fold in recent years. Handguns are still obtainable, but even for the underground it is difficult to operate. Drugs are a highlight of crime too.

Should prisoners be reformed or incarcerated? I feel reform of a prisoner is very limited because of the lack of opportunity on the outside. Most of our incarcerated individuals are black or Hispanic, many with out higher level of learning/degrees. This is why the "revolving door" is so common and why many criminals don't fear going back to prison.

Would stricter prisons reduce crime? Would taking away the television, conjugal visits and other freedoms stop US prisons from being a place of "summer camp" mentality?