As someone whose job is to help reshape culture through behavioral science, I can't disagree more strongly.
"Incarceration is a basic tool of criminal justice, but when the sole purpose is punishment and confinement, offenders respond, in the privacy of their own minds, with resentment and defiance. The thinking that led them to offend is not extinguished by punishment; it is reinforced."
The US style prison system has proven to be an utter and complete failure on many levels. Not treating humans like humans is wrong, and will never lead to not only successful rehabilitation and re-entry into the public, but even more importantly, it doesn't deter or prevent the behavior from occurring in the first place, which is the ultimate goal. Big picture, long-term vision and goals over short-term retribution style thinking is what's required. As our buddy Einstein so accurately stated, "insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results". As well as, "we can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them". (That would be insane as well.)
If you want change, you have to step up, step in, and be a part of it.