And this is exactly the mindset that breeds the prison industrial complex in this country and why nothing will ever be done about it. Ya'll look at vidoes of prisons in some european countries and laugh at how they live better than people on the outside, but there's a reason why said countries have such low crime rates. Prison is not a means for revenge or punishment, though in some cases the outrage is understandable and sometimes justified. It's meant for rehabilitation so that offenders can be brought back into society better than they left. Instead they're robbed of freedom for extended periods of time and shunned by society when they're released.
So a kid like that who is truly in need of help, but probably doesn't have the means to get it on the outside is forever fukked once he enters the system. And the vicious cycle repeats itself