I am always puzzled, there seems to be lots of people who seem to have decided that retribution is not the purpose of the justice system. It is the primary purpose of the justice system. Everything else (disuasion, redemption, reintegration, etc) comes as an secondary benefit/purpose.

Now we can debate whether locking someone in a tiny concrete cell for 60 years is an appropriate form of retribution, or even whether it is more humane than a quick death. And certainly any violence in jail is unacceptable. The US system seems a bit absurd to me. But the european systems of extreme laxism seem equally absurd and ineffective.

Yes. A lot of the social issues we have today point to needed overhauls of many institutions.