A Danish Prison cell in a newly constructed prison

[packman]

It looks nicer than the hotel room I stayed in this past weekend

[no_hypocrisy]

1. More rehabilitation than penetentiary.

A step in the right direction.

[Buckeyeblue]

2. What really is the role of prison?

Is it really to punish? To change behavior? Or is it to remove someone from society who is a danger to others or society as a whole?

I've always thought prison should be used for the later. And in many cases it's a failing of society that causes someone to be dangerous to others. Not always. But many times it is.

But this idea that prison has to be conducted in horrible conditions doesn't make sense.

I know it's complicated. But too many people end up in prison.

[Tommy Carcetti]

3. The Scandinavian/Nordic approach to the penal system is interesting.

I don't know if it would ever be replicated here and to what success it might have, but it is fascinating no doubt.

[CrispyQ]

7. We would have to correct our punitive attitude that because one commits a crime,

not white collar crime, of course, but "real" crime, one deserves to be exploited & treated with lack of dignity & respect. That is a common theme played out in jails & prisons across our country. Anything different is the exception.

[CrispyQ]

4. I know a lot of people are sour on Michael Moore, but his movie, "Where to Invade Next"

is a great movie! One of the country's he visits is Norway to compare their penal system to ours. It's stunning not only the difference in environment, but the results, too. Of course, they also don't have private industry influencing legislators to write draconian laws to lock up more citizens with the goal of maximizing profit, a point Moore made but didn't stress strongly enough IMO.

[obamanut2012]

5. Good, it should be like this for almost all prisoners

Nothing fancy. Lower-end IKEA and TV.

[ck4829]

6. And it shows - Denmark had, what, 30 homicides last year

[Hortensis]

8. It won't look that nice after being lived in for long hours, but does look humane.

Reminds me that Ahmaud Arbery's murderers actually hoped to get convicted of federal hate crimes so they could ask to serve their life sentences in a federal instead of GA prison. Didn't work out as hoped.

Well used GA prison cells.

[LakeArenal]

10. It's better than how my dorm looked after a year.....

[Hortensis]

13. Lol, easy to believe. We saw the apartment our son shared once.

That was enough, and I'm sure they'd tidied up.

[Aristus]

9. Anthony Burgess could have been talking about the American prison system

when he wrote in A Clockwork Orange: "Cram criminals together and you get concentrated criminality; crime in the midst of punishment."

The Nordic countries have a much saner solution, as usual.

[sarisataka]

11. It is much more humane

However it doesn't fulfill our desire for punishment.

Would be pleased if that was Trump’s quarters? The Parkland shooter?

Or any of the people who we have gleefully looked forward to their likely prison "experience" if they were in general pop? e.g The cops who killed George Floyd

[hunter]

12. Certain people have to be isolated from normal society. That's just the way it is.

Violent people, sexual abusers, those who rob and steal... they can't live freely among us. (I'm looking at you, Donald Trump...)

Torturing these people in their confinement accomplishes nothing. Often it makes them worse people, more dangerous to their fellow prisoners, guards, etc.; more dangerous and less able to function in ordinary society when they are released.

We are an extraordinarily wealthy society. Nobody should live in squalor -- not our dysfunctional homeless people, not our working poor, and not those who must be locked away.

Humans in general are remarkably resistant to punishment. Threats of punishment do not make us consider the consequences of our actions any more carefully, nor do they make us better people.