Twos Day Debates - Should the Penal System Rehabilitate

While watching In Session today (yes, i watch that show) the quandary arose of whether the American penal system aims at punishment or rehab.  Of course the penal system means to punish, but is that the target upon which our justice system should hold its sights?

Yes (the penal system should be meant to merely punish).  Primarily, the sociological tool of prison acts as a deterrent.  To a point, this proves effective.  However, the question becomes, how much should be done for prisoners for their own benefit and the benefit of society as a whole?  The rights of prisoners should remain as minimal as possible in order to keep the punishment's effects high.  While prisoners should in no way be abused either mentally or physically, the modern pattern of prisoner's rights has perhaps gone too far (i.e. - those on death row should not be there for years and years, prisoners should not have access to television, etc.).    Prison should be nothing like society to remove any sliver of appeal to prisoners or released prisoners.

No (the penal system does not do enough for prisoners and should be geared more toward rehabilitation). Supposing that society's holds net improvement as a major goal, the prison systems must be used to rehabilitate prisoners.  What good is 3% of the population sitting in prison?  First, they're no longer productive (thanks to changes in the way prisons are run).  Secondly, every person in prison creates a net loss monetarily for the state or country.  In essence, each individual in prison counts twice against any gains that are made by the United States as a whole (that's only taking into account the prisoners themselves, the number would skyrocket if family members, etc. were included).  Why not spend a little more money on rehabilitation and in return reduce the number repeat offenders?  Drug dealers are kings of networking, give them a helping hand into the business world.  Help drug addicts by providing therapy, getting them to discover why they used and aiding in their recovery in the outside world.  The point being, a great number (if not a majority) of inmates would choose to avoid prison had the option presented itself.