So you came across a rehabilitation facility (as differentiated from a prison) in Austria- who has a much more progressive view of incarceration than the US to begin with, and for which no violent criminals would be housed in- and are representing all prison conditions to be like this. Is that the point you're making? Because that seems to be your point, that people who commit barbaric acts will wind up in a facility like this, so we better just brutalize them instead.
Most of the prisoners in Bastoy (Norway) were convicted of violent offenses, such as murder or rape. I don't think it is a nice idea to provide such people with 5-star facilities inside the prison. If I had the power, then I'll ship them either to the White Swan or to the Black Dolphin in Russia.
I suppose it depends what the intent of prison is. If it's to reform people and have them be functioning members of society when they're released, I think Bastoy is shows some promise.
If it's to punish people in harsh conditions during and after imprisonment so they are likely to return to crime, the US prison system is exemplary. Naw. There are many levels and styles of prison in the US, ranging from minimal confinement to single cell lockup. There are many, many facilities for druggies which are more like drug rehab facilities than prison. Etc.
It's probably the luck of the draw though than any top down philosophical decision. You sure wouldn't want to be in the state penn in one of the very poor states like Mississippi.
Are you disputing that the majority of prisons do not make rehabilitation their primary function? The war on drugs has proven to be the death of rehabilitative prisons as they are overcrowded past their ability to function in a rehabilitative manner, even when they're specifically built to be so. Here's a nice and short synopsis of the changing role of the US prison system:
http://www.adpsr.org/home/prison_history. Perhaps if the war on drugs were eliminated, there would be less stress on the system and it could return to a more rehabilitative role, but that would require a seismic political shift in the national landscape, especially by the republican party. I'm hopeful, but not expectant.