http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/n ... s-plummets

, now if only we could have realistic, set in stone tariffs over here...

I find it hard to understand what you are saying. What would make such an incorporeal non existent entity as a tariff 'realistic'?
Whatever your answer might be, I am eager to know what example the liberal Swedes have set in this case.

Rehabilitation is something that is barely dealt with here as prison is seen more as revenge by society than anything else. If people can be dealt with in other ways why do we need to lock them up? Sweden is a far less unequal society than here so that can be part of the reason. Treating drug addicts would also have significant cost savings than prison. Apart from the drop in prison numbers a lot of crimes are committed by addicts.

Prison needs to be a mixture of Punishment and Rehabilitation

I think that you should get

1/3 of the time as “hard labour”
1/3 of the time with Rehabilitation – this should cover getting people off drugs, schooling, learning a trade etc.
1/3 time possibly off for good behaviour

You might do better to have every single day as rehabilitation. They are still being locked up and unable to see friends and drink with them down the pub. Many criminals have literacy problems and they have a lot to catch up on. So simply locking them up for a third of their sentence is only increasing the chances that they will reoffend. If they have a 5 year sentence why can't they do a OU degree? It is not as if they have many other distractions.