Putting prisoners for better use?

Many local governments are facing difficulties to keep up with their services due to fiscal shortfalls. Some "innovative" ideas come up recently to put prisoners in unfilled works.

According to the the AP (1/11), residents in Charlestown, Indiana, will decide on a proposal to "beef up a volunteer firefighting department with inmates" with "minimum-security." is Severely "short-staffed," Charlestown's fire department had started training eight inmates before it was stopped due to growing concern of residents. Yet the state Department of Correction seems to have "planned to give the program the green light."

Likewise, Florida's CBS affiliate WINK-TV (1/11, Capasso) reports that Collier County is studying whether to "pull prisoners from behind bars and put them to work" in unfilled county jobs for "trash pickup, landscaping, auto detailing, accounting" and as "lifeguards." The county "has already lost roughly $34 million due to state budget cuts last year" and "stands to lose another $50 million" if a state property tax referendum passes on Jan. 29. Final decision has yet to be made by the county manager.