The problems hindering his chance at recovery?
Um the big one you're missing out on is Nick himself and his personality disorder.
I know it's very popular these days to see people as cattle, that as long as you provide the right conditions, they will go the way you want them to go. I just don't see it this way, I think he's a broken man who learned for years how to take pleasure from having power and from being able to manipulate others.
Like, there are synapses in his brain, there are connections, that have been built over years now, to enable him to feel pleasure from "winning" over others.
The fact that this horrifically traumatic experience did not break him apart, is making me think that those synapses are still there. He feels happy when he can fool people into thinking he's right. It's super important for him. More important than having happy children close to him.
It is absolutely possible to change that. But it takes some serious humbling combined with the ability to see own mistakes and the willingness to change.
Whatever punishment he's gonna receive, it will not be 25 years in prison, getting mutt law'ed in shower on daily. It will be a gentle thing, designed to help normal people who got a bit lost but can still recover quickly. A little shake up, that any normal person would take to heart and treat as rock bottom. But Nick is not that person imho. There is nothing about his behavior prior to the arrest, and especially after, that makes me think he's got a chance to learn from it and grow up.