its a deterrent AND a punishment in its current form sadly.

And mny people use its status as both to justify its most draconian methods. They say that since prisons keep dangerous people like jeffrey dahmer away from the innocent public this justifies ALL the harsh things we do to ALL criminals. Even the non-violent criminals who were abused as children.

prison time should clearly be about rehabilitation, AND deterrence through protecting the public from unfixable phychopaths but we can clearly see how it isnt about these factors today seeing as how most of the people from the Epstein Files are out and about, most pedophiles grt a slap-on-the-wrist jail sentences, nost of the peoplw who have partaken in thr Palestinian and Sudanese Genocide will probably not be jailed , and most prisons resort to draconian means that if you asked a psychologist about them theyd say these would not rehabilitate a person at all.