>This I agree with you on wholeheartedly. It's time to address the underlying reasons people are commiting the crimes, and also to
>find alternatives to long term incarceration. Of course, we're not the first to advocate these opinisions.

But that would mean to create jobs for most of them, and pay them at real rates. These same people are much more profitable as prison labor, as their basic needs - food, roof, clothing - are funded from taxes, so they can be paid less than what Asian sweatshops pay. And transportation costs are a joke.