Well, this comes from a country where only country level penal legislation exist...
In my ideal prison system, each type of crime would have its own prison, altrought in as most cases as possible separated by 'degrees'. That way, petty thieves who didn't use guns would be separated from hitmans and drugdealers.
Hate criminals would have their own spaces...
Each prisoner would be on individual cells with a TV and a toilet. Out of that, the prison would try to be an space different from where most criminals come front. For a peruvian case, a prison would play classical music and jazz all day. Also, it would support productive activities. Prisoners in their first two years would be forced to learn a trade. Then, they would be forced to work in a workshop 3/4 days a week.
The prison would give food to its population. A breakfast would be a piece of bread with avocado (cheap down here) and a cup of water. A lunch would be salad, legumes and chicken in a plate and another cup of water. A dinner would be some fried rice (with eggs) and another cup of water. Well, there would be special foods in some days. Prisoners with allergies would have special food for them.
I don't thing it would be much of a good idea to detail the levels of security needed for this.
My ideas prison would be more focused on reeducation than on punishment, but it wouldn't be cookie cuttier. It would have TV, but that would only pass historic films and some propaganda. I would put a gym and maybe a fronton court, but zero association football camps. Soccer balls would be forbidden.
I would put any prisoner an Electronic tagging for geolocalization. Also, I would put them various shock bracelets and a mini cam with them. Maybe prisoners would feel tranquil as they avoid fights and getting hurt, but there would be a strict lenguage code: no swearing and some slang would be forbidden too.
The idea is to make a different enviorment from when they come from. Making a harsh poor place is just repeating what's outside from when most prisoners come from.
