To understand why a belief in criminological positivism and a faith in
            
 rehabilitation and a welfare characterized crime control has formed in the
            
 modern era, there are two major issues to consider.  One is the lack of
            
 humane conditions that are presently provided in prison systems and the
            
 other is the degree of rehabilitation that prisons can and should
            
 facilitate to cope with prison populations that are swelling beyond
            
 control.  Rehabilitation to avoid incarceration in the  first place or to
            
 reduce the likelihood that inmates will return to prison after their
            
 release is the best possible solution.
            
       According to Human Rights Watch (Human rights watch prison project),
            
 prisoners suffer from physical mistreatment, excessive disciplinary
            
 measures, intolerable physical conditions and inadequate medical and mental
            
 health care.  Prisons are severely overcrowded and do not have adequate
            
 staffing.   Many local jails are unsafe, vermin-infested and lack areas
            
 where inmates can get exercise or fresh air.  Violence by inmates and
            
 guards is common.  Mentally ill inmates who comprise between six and
            
 fourteen percent of the incarcerated population do not receive adequate
            
 monitoring and treatment.  Private prisons operate without sufficient
            
 control and oversight from public correctional authorities.  Both prisoner-
            
 on-prisoner sexual abuse and sexual abuse of women is a huge problem.
            
 Amnesty International reported that sexual abuse of female inmates is
            
 rampant but said many cases go unreported for fear of retaliation. Amnesty
            
 reported an undetermined number of cases of prison guards who grope women
            
 during daily searches and who rape women. Amnesty also found some prison
            
 guards sell female prisoners as sex slaves to male inmates (Ruggiero,
            
       Even most those who argue that prisons should punish prisoners would
            
 agree that prisoners need to be provided with humane living conditions.  In
            
 ...