I have watched a documentary several times now about Broadmoor Hospital which is a high security psychiatric hospital in England. It has made me think about mental health and the prison system and how we view offenders in general, particularly in the US. We seem to think that someone who has committed a crime, particularly a violent one has forfeited their humanity. Yet when I hear the stories these people tell about the severe abuse and neglect they suffered as children, or how they were a child soldiers etc. I feel a great deal of empathy, sympathy, and compassion for them. I know many of them have done unspeakable acts of violence but I feel like society failed them. Additionally many of the patients are there for less violent or even non-violent offenses but they began to self-harm or had breakdowns in prison. But what do you all think? Lock the door and throw away the key, or try to rehabilitate offenders as much as is possible?