A Modest Proposal

The United States imprisons more of its citizens than any other nation. We spend $60 billion anually on "corrections." On any given day, nearly 1% of Americans (more than 2 million of us) are incarcerated, many of whom are non-violent offenders who represent little danger and who constitute a vast, relatively untapped potential manpower pool.
I propose we eliminate mandatory-minimum sentences for certain categories of criminals; instead, let's impose variable financial penalties (depending on the seriousness of the infraction, doubled for recidivists), which can be paid off (plus room and board charges) only through mandatory participation in selected public works projects (like trash pick-up, beautification of our parks, restoration of our decrepit highways and bridges). All labor would be valued equally, but jobs would be assigned according to each inmate's interests and/or abilities. Full-time labor all day, jail at night; you earn your way out--you learn the value of work and, while you're at it, you might even acquire a marketable skill--and, like it or not, you give something back to society.