I LOVE the idea of Hard Labor for convicts. Nothing annoys me more (well...Hillary...’nuf said) than MY tax dollars going to support people who lay about all day, shank each other, and/or work on a college degree (usually to become a Lawyer) on my dime.
Bring back Chain Gangs! Fix the d@mn roads, clean up trash, mow the grass, etc.
It would be too cool to move our exported manufacturing jobs back to the US and produce things cheaply via the prison system. Low labor costs, prisoners kept occupied, and of course, the prisoners would go towards covering the costs of their incarceration.