Why should criminals get computer games, comfortable beds, gym facilities?

Because the fundamental concept of imprisonment is supposed to be rehabilitation, not punishment.

The vast majority of prisoners are not confined for life; they are going to be back out on the streets again when their prison term is finished. Do you think our prisons should be nothing more than advanced training centers to make these criminals even more proficient at their criminality than when they began their incarceration?

I, for one, would not feel comfortable in an environment where every released prisoner re-entered society as a bitter, brutalized, totally angry misfit whose sole purpose in life was revenge on the people that made him that way.

That said, our prisons do a miserable job of rehabilitation. Just look at the recidivism rate for confirmation of that. Many people a lot smarter than I am have tried to come up with a better system and failed. I wish I had the answers, but I don't.

It has been shown time and time again that fear of punishment is NOT a deterrent to crime. Criminals do not perform their crimes with the intention of being caught. I don't think making prisons even more brutalizing than they are now is a viable solution to the problem.

tanstaafl.