Agree with some of what you said, but let me close my thoughts by saying that picking veggies may not be a skill, but construction and maintenance, etc are great skills. Prison population is a pretty big issue in our country. I say we teach em all how to grow medicinal marijuana. Put those skills to work! :)

Oh, and illegals don't make anywhere close to that kind of money. Many of the students I teach are illegal, honestly. The parents are pretty open with me as a Spanish teacher, and since I speak the language. What they go through is not good, and the amount of their children who end up in gangs is staggering. I teach a lot of gang members too, since the demographics overlap a lot.

We have lots of possibilities. Take that extra money and reform and counsel criminals. There are so many ways to make someone productive. Why let them rot in jail. Of course, if we made a non-victim crimes legal, that in itself may fix the problem. Who can say?