Some people think certain prisoners should be made to do unpaid community work instead of being put behind bars. To what extent do you agree?

In some countries many jails are often overcrowded, pushing governments to find a solution either investing in new infrastructures or releasing some of the convicts. Thereby, some believe that prisoners should be involved in social works, bringing at least a benefit to the community. Despite the fact that it may seem like a good opinion, it definitely would be hard to make it possible. Clearly, in 2021 human rights are a hot topic, even when talking about criminals. Indeed, there are clear rules about how they should be convicted including adequate spaces for everyone and the possibility to dedicate themselves to hobbies or professional skills.

However

, when prisons are under pressure with too many people, these rights may be forgotten.

For instance

, in Italy a few years ago

this

problem had gotten to a point where the government had no other option than to release some of the prisoners. As we can easily imagine, public opinion saw

this

more as a failure rather than a solution.

Nevertheless

, jails should be considered as a place where people are re-educated for a certain amount of time before being sent back into society. In spite of that, convicts are certainly a heavy economic burden for the country and the taxpayers.

Hence

, some people claim that they should be involved in unpaid works useful for the community

such

as building roads or working on farms.

However

,

this

should be well organized to avoid runaways and eventually they should be working in proper conditions. For these reasons, it may not be as simple as we think and maybe not even cheaper. To sum up, as far as I'm concerned conviction should be interpreted as a

second

chance that the community gives to the prisoners.

Therefore

, considering that

this

comes at a price on behalf of society, a good way to make them useful would be to include them in different work activities.