> Your life gets much, much worse, but you aren't killed.

As I said, you are not figuratively killed in prison.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but if you're life on the streets is over due to a cyclic prison/crime cycle, how is your day to day life not over?

Well first, you're assuming that everyone that goes to prison gets stuck in that cycle. Prison does you no favors, but I've seen first hand that the cycle does not always happen.

Secondly, prison does not end your day to day life. There are many people serving time who will get out and be able to go on with their life. Not everyone who goes to prison gets a life sentence. And even for those who are doing long stints, they very well do have a life worth living. Prison sucks, but saying someone who's doing a stint (or multiple) doesn't have a life worth living is a akin to telling them to commit suicide.

I understand you were probably engaging in hyperbole, but it's clear (to me at least) that you probably have not encountered many (or any) people who have gone to prison. Your view of prison inmates is probably a combination of a few tv shows. As someone who has a better view I'll say that prisoners do have lives worth living, they do have rights, and (when prison is done correctly) they should come out better on the other side.

Prison is shitty, and leaves a stigma on people that is hard to shake. But prisoner is in that situation, not of that situation.