The Land of the Free
As long as you don't break one (or more) of the hundreds of thousands of laws we have in this country.
People go to prison for buying or selling the wrong thing. Or doing it in the wrong way. Or at the wrong time. For owning a piece of metal and wood too long, or too short. For thounds upon thousands of things that are essentially meaningless crimes that hurt no one, or at worst hurt the individual doing it and no one else. Do you know that attempted suicide is a crime? (suicide isn't, I wonder why?)
When prison conditions in the US are better than the living conditions of the poor in other places, is it any wonder why so many come here? The worst thing the US can do to them is send them back. And we don't do that, in significant numbers.
Releasing criminals into society to save money? Seems like a self perpetuating employment system for government, particularly everyone involved in law enforcement, judicial, and the penal system.
Other than a relatively small number of people who run afoul of the system, the majority of people in prisons are there because they willfully and deliberately did things that got them put there. Of course, none of them ever planned on getting caught, but they were. Why would any rational person think that when they are released, that they will not simply pick up where they left off?
How much of the "saved" money will be channeled into parole officers to monitor these people to help prevent them from committing more crimes, I wonder? Not enough, I would guess. And when more crimes are committed, the public will demand more law enforcement.
Perhaps the root cause of the problem of not having enough money and space to house and care for criminals is the fact that so many things are crimes? And not doing enough to fix the problem actually keeps more people in government employed.
Here's a thought, I wonder how much money California would save if they only had one gun control law. "shoot someone unjustifiably, go to prison". Scrap all the rest, and use there people who spend their time getting paid to enforce them for other things. Things like apprehending violent criminals, not somebody who didn't file the correct form the proper way.