brazil's jails

Recently there was a program on TV about the horrific conditions in Brazil"s prisons. It made me sick. I am sure such conditions prevail in most prisons of the third world. What are politicians in those countries thinking? Do they expect the criminals to somehow get reformed under those inhumane conditions or they just want to forget about them and let them rot till they die?   A better solution to the problem of crime in my opinion is to abolish all prisons, give the criminals on conviction a few lashes on the back side and let them do slave labour in a factory or on a farm while at the same time teaching them appropriate behavior in a special school. Just think how much money society would save by employing such a method and the speed with which these people would be inclined to become better citizens? aziz anom