The idea of spending money on rehabilitation programs of any kind had become a political nonstarter by the 1990s. However, most prisoners are eventually released, and too many of them return to prison, filling beds and costing money.
I never understood this about society and our current prison system. Criminals don't often learn when they get released from prison. If a drug dealer gets released, the chances of that same drug dealer getting back into the same illegal activities he was in before are definitely still there. The way our correctional facilities are designed is definitely a debatable issue at hand and needs to be addressed no matter what.