Gotta be careful with that Rule 2.
I think the justice system here has a systemic issue of mis-calibrated punishments (...among other things). Some folks getting 10 years for possession and sale of weed while other folks getting 5 years for manslaughter. I can understand wanting some "make up justice" to pick up the court's slack.
I'm not sure a full switch to a Scandinavian model would work here because we've got fairly different socioeconomic pressures/factors. I do think putting more effort in to actual education of prisoners would be beneficial.
I 100% know subjecting prisoners to more crime and violence is not the answer to crime.
I'm not saying it should be a day spa, but they should be safe while in custody and receive counseling at a minimum.
It's impossible to do this because we choose to overfill prisons for minor, nonviolent offenses, because we've privatized state prisons and guaranteed the CEO's of a minimum occupancy in the contracts. We literally have prison quotas. Multiple judges have been prosecuted for getting kickbacks to send kids to jail for minor offenses.
I'm all for capitalism when it comes to cars, tv's, phones, gizmos and gadgets, but our health care, military, judicial and penal system, probation, etc... should 100% not be run for profit. It's a complete conflict of interests.