Should we reform our prisons?

In my state, California, the prisons are run by an agency called the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. We pack so many people into the prison space that the department can neither correct or rehabilitate and has been ordered by federal courts to get the head count down from 1.8 inmates per space for one to 1.5. Unfortunately the fact doesn't sink in that rehabilitation is cheaper than "lock 'em up and throw away the key" and until it does, no reform is possible.