7.5.2 The Role of Prisons

Prisons form part of the justice system too, and they play an essential role. That role works in two ways. First, prisons punish people who have committed crimes. Second, they deter crime: the prospect of being locked up is meant to discourage people from breaking the law in the first place. So a prison sentence is not only about the individual serving it. It also carries a message to everyone else in society. Punishment and deterrence, taken together, are the reason prisons matter within Canada's system of justice.