Too many prisons make people worse
A few weeks ago, running the subway in a major North American city, I kept admiring how people were polite and waited for other people to leave the trains before entering, how many times I saw someone give up their seats for the elderly (not that they really needed, there were a lot of empty seats elsewhere). That got me thinking if those <i>same</i> people would be as polite if they were in the <i>same</i> train but with 20x more people around. I think extreme situations are a great equalizer in crowded situations and it&#x27;s my feeling they would behave the same: not wait for anyone, not give up seats, etc.<p>My point is, what works for Norway (population: 5.2m, prison population: 3874 or 0.0745% [0]) is never going to work for Brazil (population: 207m, prison population: 659020 or 0.31% [1]).<p>I like the idea of these idyllic prisons but inmates that will fit those are the exception here. Nevertheless, the system should offer them and help good inmates to be removed from the terrible traditional prisons so they don&#x27;t become worse. It&#x27;s often said that prisons are like college for criminals.<p>I don&#x27;t know if this system could handle things like this: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.aljazeera.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;2017&#x2F;01&#x2F;60-killed-beheaded-grisly-brazil-prison-riot-170102185216472.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.aljazeera.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;2017&#x2F;01&#x2F;60-killed-beheaded-gri...</a><p>In summary, I love the idea but let&#x27;s not pretend that by just having those prisons that things will change drastically. It&#x27;s a complex situation and there are problems everywhere (bad laws, slow courts, poverty, etc).<p>0 - <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.prisonstudies.org&#x2F;country&#x2F;norway" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.prisonstudies.org&#x2F;country&#x2F;norway</a><p>1 - <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.prisonstudies.org&#x2F;country&#x2F;brazil" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.prisonstudies.org&#x2F;country&#x2F;brazil</a>