Effectiveness of Prisons

I really don't think prisons are as effective as they could/should be. As someone mentioned in class this week, prisoners learn how to commit crime without getting caught from other prisoners. People just do their time and continue to live their lives afterwards, like rehab. There may be some people in N.A/A.A to actually try and quit, but I know there are some people that are court ordered and just stay clean for as long as they have to.

Furthermore, they then have a record which has created problems for many ex-felons that try to lead a new life. It is difficult to get hired anywhere because of this. They can no longer vote (correct me if I'm wrong) - their privileges (and rights too damn it!) are being taken away from U.S. citizens. Is that really fair? Are they learning any type of lesson?