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The concept of prisons as a form of punishment is, in the large scale, a fairly recent phenomena. This is due to the fact that in medieval Europe the function of prisons was merely for custodial purposes, only holding offenders until they could be disposed of either through execution, banishment, mutilation or any number of unsavoury medieval punishments. However, with the advancement of society and humanitarianism, barbaric forms of punishment were disposed of and replaced with more socially acceptable forms of dealing with offenders. Prison is now perceived as the normal response to a wide range of behaviour considered to be anti-social or criminal. Irrespective of the value of alternatives its extensive use provides us with considerable information with which to evaluate and highlight significant internal problems within prisons, some of which include overcrowding and interrelated drug abuse, and may also offer various alternatives to prison. Before the...

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