Should We Replace Prisons with Treatment Centers?

   We should have treatment centers, rather than prisons.
   Imagine the response that might bring, unless you listen fully to what I mean. Let's see, do I mean a place where the rapist is prescribed seven milligrams of  Acedylln Rivariton, and the shoplifter gets three milligrams daily of Miorsium Diphosanate? The murder is prescribed a heavy dosage -- six ounces - of Dytrixide Nureen.
   No, no, no. I don't mean that.
   Nor do I mean to take the functions of our prisons out of our prisons. We still lock them up, cut off much of their interaction with the outside world, and punish them. But, we go beyond that. We don't stop at punishment. We ensure that there is treatment.
   Somewhere, sometime, someone is going to come along with a study showing that crime is a social disorder. And, they will be right. That does not mean the criminal is not responsible for his actions, that he had no choice but to commit the crime. It only means you can slap a medical term on it, if you like, and treat it as something that needs to be treated.
   To a certain degree, that might be helpful. If you'll notice, we don't offer much treatment at present. We're heavy on punishment, and light on treatment and cure. Why would we not want to treat the problem? You might tell me working on a road crew is all the treatment a prisoner needs. I beg to differ.