Individual ( our resident OLO know it all cynic) :
"...prisoners get better medical attention than most normal citizens, again no deterrent."

If the prison authorities were to let their inmates become ill and die from treatable diseases or illnesses, then they would be even worse than the criminals they house...because they are supposed to know better.

Imagine if we did have all jail inmates treated as badly as you obviously want Individual, how safe would the already difficult job the prison staff have be?

I guess if we had any 'problem' inmates who gave more trouble than others, we could always shoot them...as a deterrent to the others?

But wait, of course that wouldn't work, because only criminals without gun licences shoot others down in cold blood....don't they?

Conditions in Australian prisons are already worse than average, globally.

Some wrong assumptions made on this thread are that:
1. Prisoners are always criminals.
2. Prisoners are always serious/hardened criminals.
3. All prisoners chose to commit a crime.
4. All Prisoners feel in jail as in a hotel.
5. The laws by which people are imprisoned are always just and moral.

At times those assumptions are true. At times they are not.

No absolutely-objective test exists to tell whether a person is a criminal or not. Innocent people get into jail for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. People get into jail for following their conscience and/or religious convictions. People get into jail for momentary loss of attention/control. People get into jail for helping their friends and family. People get into jail because imposed and unjust laws make their situation impossible.

Can anybody here claim unhesitatingly, "it won't happen to me"?

While the true criminals, say 1%, deserve to suffer, all other 99% of us, though with no intention to harm anyone, must suffer constant anxiety, lest it happens to us. That suffering, those nightmares of finding oneself in jail, those weighing-stones we carry on our necks, which for a real criminal may perhaps look like a hotel but for an innocent person worse than death and hell, that suffering is greater than all suffering from crime put together (not that the latter is negligible). The least we can do is to make conditions in our jails more humane - who knows, it could be you in there one day, God forbid.

If we keep splitting hairs we'll end up splitting them again & again until there's nothing left & the whole silly cycle of no resolution will start another cycle of no resolution. Of course there are cases which do not fall into the average category & that's what magistrates & judges should be for.
The arguments of rights for prisoners is that after having done wrong you waive some of the rights that come with the privilege of normal life.

The line from Suseonline just smacks of utter ignorance & a deliberate trying to destabilise.
"If the prison authorities were to let their inmates become ill and die from treatable diseases or illnesses,"

There is a huge difference between treating a life threatening decease & having dental work done worth thousands of dollars on the outside. And, yes criminals without gun licenses would shout others.

Yuyutsu,
At times those assumptions are true. At times they are not. Again hair splitting. Yes quite a number of prisoners should not be in prison. So why are thy ? Because some incompetent magistrate or judge is totally out of whack with reality.
There are many points of Law that send innocent people to prise. Just one of the examples is when you drive an unregistered or defective vehicle & despite driving perfectly safe you can go to jail because a drunk ran into you. By all means cop a fine but if the accident is not your fault you should not be made accountable for it.
You could be 0.6 on the blower, drive perfectly safe & some other incompetent sober driver runs into you & you cop the brunt of the Law. That's just so wrong & immoral. Australia really needs a legal sea change fast.

People are sent to prison "AS" punishment and not "FOR" punishment. End of story.

@chrisgaff1000 I suppose my question and thinking is more along the lines of, is prison effective? I am quite confident that prison can still be the punishment of breaking the law, yet could be changed to more effectively deter people from breaking the law also.

@individual Sorry I dont agree with your last argument. To say "they broke the law worse than I did" or "I only got caught breaking the law out of luck or accident" is not good. The last thing we want to encourage people is that breaking the law is only breaking the law when you are caught by a police officer. Breaking the law is exactly that regardless of whether you are alone in your house or in the middle of a crowded street.

My personal view on the matter of prison effectiveness comes back to the effectiveness of our laws and society. We are always told what we are not allowed to do (do not speed, do not drink drive, etc) but we are rarely, if ever, taught what we should be doing instead. We as a society in general should be encouraging people to do the opposite, helping people, sharing our wealth, etc. rather than just "dont break this rule.e

"they broke the law worse than I did" or "I only got caught breaking the law out of luck or accident"
Random Guy
That's your interpretation, I did not say that at all. If someone runs into me if I'm 0.5 yet driving perfectly proper then I should be charged for being 0.6 not for being responsible for the accident caused by a sober incompetent driver.
Our prisons are not deterrents, they're training camps to hone criminal skills.