A) That would take tax revenue for people that most voters sadly have almost no empathy for, despite most prisoners being products and victims of their society that were disenfranchised and driven into illegal activity out of desperation.
B) Voters largely, maliciously love the suffering of prison populations, because it provides the sweet, sweet dopamine drip of schadenfreude. Most people see schadenfreude about prisoners as entirely guilt free, even if they avoid feeling pleasure at the suffering of the poor and homeless.
People by and large fucking suck. They see prisoners as the “other,” despite them being desperate, struggling human beings and countrymen that usually needed help but received the opposite before having little to nothing left to lose.
Few other issues put the unvarnished cruelty of mankind on display like discussing how we should treat our prisoners. For every benevolent, enlightened person calling for mercy, compassion, and rehabilitation, there’s 10 bloodthirsty people screaming to turn the fucking screws on those BAAAAAAD people.