It costs approximately $100k per annum to house a prisoner in Victoria. I was told this by the head of a maximum security prison only a couple of weeks back.
Some prisoners are locked up in their cells for 23 hours a day. It's not somewhere where the average person ever wants to end up! It's quite a sad place really. All they want (generally) is to be outside with their families.
It's actually around $220k now and the likelihood of any sort of rehabilitation inside is remote as revealed by a recent audit of Corrections Victoria.
Those who are placed on Community Corrections Orders are far more likely to comply with conditions of treatment and program participation, and will actually perform work to effect reparation to the community. They are also much less likely to reoffend.
Unfortunately, those who serve a first prison term are 80% likely to reoffend and serve another one. Factors include the lessons they learn by associating with other offenders, the huge difficulty in finding accommodation and work post-release and mental health issues.
Kaz