The whole concept of prison should be terminated, except for violent criminals and chronic non-violent recidivists...

I appreciate Conrad Black speaks from a position that is inevitably slanted. But he's right:

The whole concept of prison should be terminated, except for violent criminals and chronic non-violent recidivists, and replaced by closely supervised pro bono or subsistence-paid work by bonded convicts in the fields of their specialty. Swindlers and embezzlers, hackers and sleazy telemarketers are capable people and they should serve their sentences by contributing honest work to government-insured employers.

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=3086246#ixzz0pcU2Ztko