Rehabilitation vs. punishment

Prisons with the title "correctional facility" would imply there are locations used for correcting or rehabilitating. This is the intended purpose of jail sentencing, contrary to the popular belief that jail is a place of punishment. \nImprisonment could be looked at as an extreme form of rehabilitation, the purpose being to incarcerate individuals who need a "timeout" from society -- a time to readjust their beliefs and priorities. While in prison, inmates should be given every opportunity to better themselves so they may reenter the real world as corrected individuals with the hopes of providing some societal contribution. A basic example of one opportunity would be providing educational reading materials to inmates. Another example would be inmates who organize music groups, like the band "Dark Mischief" featured in VH1's controversial "Music Behind Bars." Charles S. Dutton, known for his role in the television series as "Roc," began his acting career in prison by starting a troupe with fellow inmates. Dutton even went on to get a college degree and studied theater at the Yale School of Drama. Prisons have also long since had programs to teach inmates skills and trades, which are things they can benefit from if they are released.\nMany would argue that giving inmates opportunities such as the ones mentioned go against the purpose of imprisonment. As stated before, prison sentences are intended for correctional purposes. Prison no doubt feels like punishment for inmates, but this sense of punishment should not come directly from their term. It is not the primary goal. To lock prisoners up for the sole purpose of punishment is to give up on them. If anything, it only makes things worse. This is one flaw in the system of justice, with the ultimate flaw being the death penalty.\nThe death penalty denies criminals any chance of rehabilitation. Criminals obviously need help, and a death sentence shows them we'd rather kill them than assist them. It's as if we are communicating to criminals that only in death will they be corrected. \nAt least in countries like Nigeria, death sentences such as stoning, provide some morbid form of entertainment. Think back to the Middle Ages where whole cities shut down to come out and watch executions. What makes the U.S. capital punishment system any more humane? Why not construct a giant arena and broadcast the execution live on Pay-Per-View? As commercial as we are in the U.S., I am surprised this hasn't happened yet. Then again, we'd need to invent some new forms of punishment for the sake of ratings. I was thinking something along the lines of having the condemned watch an episode of Bob Newhart making them take a shot of battery acid every time somebody says, "Hi, Bob." How about disemboweling lawbreakers and hanging them by their entrails? Tying them to a pump at a gas station in Virginia? As you can hopefully see, these ideas are disgusting and by no means solve anything aside from coming up with a topic for a new reality TV show.\nIf we are to progress towards a forgiving and peaceful society, we must be able to allow criminals to repent for their crimes. Hateful imprisonment and death sentencing only breeds a more hateful society.