Seriously making me home sick. ( We lived in Austria for many years) Austria is far from perfect and has its own demons to fight which I won’t start on here but wow. Check out the slide show of a prison built in 2004. Inmates live in apartments with balconies, private bathrooms, and kitchenettes. I do love the inscription on the outside of the building taken from the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights which reads, “All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.” Check out the whole article in the NY Times. My main take away is this They were wearing their own clothes. The utensils on the table were metal. “They are criminals,” Hohensinn said to me, “but they are also human beings. The more normal a life you give them here, the less necessary it is to resocialize them when they leave.” His principle, he said, was simple: “Maximum security outside; maximum freedom inside.” It baffles me that in the U.S. we often treat prisoners like animals and expect them to contribute to society upon release.