R: Prison Is No Place for Criminals

The "Land of the Free"  or the "Land of the Incarcerated"?  With the highest incarceration rate in the world, the United States' system of punishment ought to be questioned (it's highly unlikely that our police officers are just the best in the world).  While clearly the physical conditions that exist in prisons should be considered, so too must the atmosphere that criminals must endure while they serve their time.  Likewise, closely related to this issue is the question of the purpose of punishment and how a system should be set up to best achieve this goal.  Is punishment meant to rehabilitate the criminal or simply to provide retribution?  What role does deterrence have?  Only once these questions have been considered can our prison system be adequately scrutinized in order to find the alternative that our society deserves.