I don't want to argue the semantics, but the evidence is that if you take two similarly situated offenders and put one in custody and give the other a community-based sentence—to hold both of them fairly accountable for their offences—the one who is given the community-based sentence does much better at not reoffending at the end of the day than the one who is given the custodial sentence.
You're really putting an emphasis on short-term measures as opposed to longer-term protection of society. We at the John Howard Society are very interested in the longer-term protection of society, not just the short-term protection of society.