Conrad Black: A National Policy for the 22nd century

He's right:

Then, we must innovate in social policy. First, as I have written here before, a wealth tax to fight poverty, by which the taxpayers design and operate, like charities, methods for combating poverty. This would incentivize the wealthy and the financially most astute to reduce poverty, as the tax would decline as defined poverty declined. And let us abolish imprisonment for all non-violent offences except the briefest periods, the most egregious offenses, or the chronic recidivists. Instead of building more prisons, let us focus on community service and rehabilitation for the non-violent, and extend the system of bonding them in private sector employment where their work would be contributed, raising productivity levels. Prison is futile and destructive and hideously expensive, and is done only because it has always been done.