Reply #12: I am going to make a very unpopular statement....

[logosoco]

I think this system would work IF, instead of putting small time offenders in prison, we had them do this work. It would cut way down on the prison population (prison should only be for people with major offenses like rape, murder, crimes against children, big time money thefts, not for drugs or because you're a chronic shoplifter.)
If housing prisoners is so expensive, this would cut down that expense. The people doing the work would have to be supervised (and someone has to make sure the jobs are done), so we would still be giving people jobs.
I don't see this as slavery or making them indentured. I see it as a way for small time criminals to really "pay their debt to society". For example, during the recent ice and snow, our school really didn't have enough people to shovel all the sidewalks. I am sure in our county prison, there are some young guys who made stupid choices and landed in prison. As a taxpayer and a human being, having somebody sitting in a jail because they stole something or got in a bar fight is not really a good idea. They got caught "taking something they didn't earn" , they should pay it back in a way that really benefits the community they took from. The people who do the snow shoveling at the schools would have had people to help, and the school would be paying the same amount for more work. Ideally the person doing the work would see that it is better to help your community than steal from it's members. But of course, if they don't do the work, then they can go back to the cell.
This is just an idea that I started thinking about after seeing people go to jail for minor crimes. It doesn't help many people. Sometimes prison makes people worse. So it seems pointless. And why should the taxpayers pay so much a year to house and provide legal assistance to them when they got busted too many times for shop lifting? Seems like that benefits Walmart.
I think this would also cut out the whole profit prison system.
This is just my opinion. I do not mean to offend anyone who disagrees.