Any penal system should focus more on rehabilitation/reintegration than pure punishment. The idea is to make society safer.

Of course. I believe in that too. But I'm talking about the criminals that are beyond help (massacring etc)

So if they're beyond help you want to torture them? Why not put them into a mental hospital and try to work out what went wrong? They'll still have a sucky life, but at least we might get something useful out of it.

No not at all! I don't believe in torture. When I mentioned torture in my previous comment, I was referring to spending the rest of your life in prison, not actual torture.

I consider spending your life behind bars as a form of torture as well, or very close. It's certainly incredibly barbaric and I can't think of any advantage it has over a mental hospital.

The European Court agrees with you - life in prison with no chance of release is inhumane. This is causing some outrage in UK politicians because 3 murderers took their cases to the court and won.

(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23245254)

(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23251197)

>Spending the rest of your life in solidarity with terrible food and no entertainment

That sounds like torture to me.

What about treating everyone, even convincted criminals, with a degree of respect, decency and compassion?

You might have missed the part where he said the maximum sentence is 30 years. And that escapes are common.