1. Innocent until proven guilty. 

If you're sent to jail, accused of a crime, you should retain those rights which are practicable--if you cannot make bail.  Basically put, this means said inmates receive amenities such as nice facilities, a modicum of privacy, and better general conditions than the rest; after all a good portion of these inmates are actually acquitted or released, not all are guilty or become convicts.  Additionally, we must stop prosecuting victimless crimes. 

2. The Guilty.

Once proven guilty, the gravy train stops.  You go to prison, and you're divided into two groups.  One is the group with a future, the other is the group without. Those considered beyond rehabilitation will go in the latter group and will spend their lives in a maximum security environment without the hope of ever leaving prison alive.

The second group...

This is the group that may one day, sooner or later, return to civilization.  The greatest resources should be expended here. 

The day begins with reveille at 6 AM and inmates have one hour to eat and get ready for the day's activities.  By 7 AM they are in citizenship class, designed to teach them how to abide in civilized society.  From 8-12 they work in the prison factory or industries, hopefully providing cheap labor for corporate or state industries.  The idea is each inmate produces labor which pays their own keep.  There is no reason why prisons should cost taxpayer money. From 12-12:30 is lunch.  12:30-5 PM is more work.  At 5 is supper.  At 5:30 is work skills/diploma/education class where people learn work/educational skills they can use on the outside.  At 7 is therapy and counseling, and at 8:30 inmates return to their cells or dorms.  At 9:30 is lights out. 

Of course, the time and schedule could be worked out differently, but the key components are these; a focus on productivity so the prisons generate revenues rather than cost (or at least minimize the costs), as well as a focus on counseling (victims empathy, right behavior, etc.) and reform.  Since we will share the streets with these people someday, it is crucial we prepare them for the experience.  Otherwise, the only other solution is the ghastly one, which is to execute all offenders of the law (and that is unacceptable to me).  I think the present system is a shambles, and does nothing to help the inmate or society, and is a national shame. 

Also, we don't release inmates who will require lifetime monitoring (like certain sex offenders).  If we can't trust people to behave without constant supervision, the next best thing is to place them in a semi-free but secure community with others like themselves. 

I have no problem being around someone with a past, provided they behave rightly, just as I have no problem being around a person with a clean past, provided they behave rightly when about me as well. 

And that's my opinion.

MP