All I argued in my comment above is that staying out of jail is the best way to avoid the deprivations of jail. Quite simple, actually.

taxpayers … to foot the bill

Your mindset is why the prison system is a failure. You have the “lock ‘em up and throw away the key” mentality. The person who says all money spent on prisoners is lost.

How do you control inmates in a prison? Take away all semblance of human dignity, treat them worse than animals, feeding them green bologna and water? Have them sit around with nothing but anger and resentment 24 hours a day?

The tiny bit of funding it takes to provide a little for prisoners makes sense. It greatly reduces prison violence, as the prisoners are occupied and content, thus letting the prison staff spend time on “problem” inmates instead of the whole general population.

With almost all prisoners being returned to society at one point, it makes sense to provide occupational training, treatment for mental and physical problems, and sanitary living conditions.

Thus, when an inmate returns to society, a job will be easier to secure if he has proper training, is in good health, has a stable mentality, and has a positive outlook on society. Otherwise you are just dumping him onto the social service/welfare rolls.

He may say “thanks for helping me out when I hit rock bottom” instead of “screw the world, I’m nothing but scum criminal.”

Note to Mr. Ventura: visualize a life where the taxpayers of Connecticut are not responsible for repeatedly having to foot the bill for your toiletries and recreational pursuits.