Again, the central question one must ask about any prison system is: Are you going to let them out again?

If a state uses prison to punish, but intends that any prisoners thus committed will be released at some point, it has a moral duty to its citizens to strive towards rehabilitating those prisoners effectively. Allowing any brutalisation, however pleasing to the average populist, ignores the fact that releasing brutalised people back into the community will only perpetuate and increase violence and law-breaking.

The only other option to incredibly expensive rehabilitation and support programmes to break the cycle of re-offending (and acceptance that some will not respond) is to lock virtually every prisoner up for ever, no matter what their crime. Then you can leave them to their own devices, and you will still get a big bill, but this time for security measures to control desperate men and women.

So, the question to ask yourselves is: When he comes back out and sets up home near my family, do I want as a neighbour an emotionless thug who has been raped beyond human endurance, having learned to survive by the lowest of human instincts?