This study investigates the potential for the rehabilitation of prisoners within the Greek correctional system, based on the views of practising professionals (police officers and youth probation officers) and social science students. Using a mixed-methods approach (quantitative research via questionnaires and qualitative research via semi-structured interviews), the study reveals strong scepticism regarding the effectiveness of prison as a means of rehabilitation. The findings highlight that overcrowding, which stands at 127 per cent, and adverse living conditions transform correctional facilities into places of ‘re-education’ in crime rather than rehabilitation. Particular emphasis is placed on the differences in attitudes between professional groups, with youth probation officers adopting a clearly less punitive approach compared to police officers. The study concludes that there is a need to adopt restorative models, along the lines of the Scandinavian systems, with the aim of protecting the rights of detainees and ensuring their effective social rehabilitation. The study contributes to an under-researched area, as it is one of very few pieces of research to systematically and comparatively document the views of serving police officers and juvenile probation officers in Greece, populations to whom research access is, by its very nature, particularly difficult.