I could see people cleaning up the city or something, but there's always a good chance the system would be abused. Privatizing of jails out west has come under scrutiny for essentially hiring out people to friendly contractors. The practice goes back as far as we know. Need cheap labor? Got a friend in the jail or prison system? It's a slippery slope that would have to be monitored closely. During the sixties I remember when judges would sometimes offer an offender jail time or join the army. These were usually somewhat minor offenders that couldn't afford attorneys. There was a lot of controversy as to why some people were arrested in the first place and ended up in Vietnam. It just opens up a lot of doors that I thought we closed years ago.