What if we took all of the prisoners that have more than a two year sentence, make them join the military and ship them off to fight the war. It makes sense. We wouldn't have to pay them because they are working off their time, and it would save the tax payers money in the long run because we wouldn't have to support a person that is sitting in prison not contributing to society anyway. Am I crazy for giving a prisoner a gun, you ask? Why do I care? They will be over in Iraq and who are they going to shoot? Either they protect themselves from the opposition or they will shoot another prisoner. How much does the average G.I. make a year? How much does it cost the tax payers to house a prisoner for a year. Without researching I think it costs more to house a prisoner for a year. Prisoners will work off their debt to society and we have thousands and thousands of new recruits. We don't need a draft. The same can be said for immigrants as well. I'm all for a person wanting to come to the United States for a better life, but if you want to come here, join our military.

Of course, you have the problem of prisoners shooting American GI's...

You know what will happen the middle east will try to kill themselves and so will the prisoners. Hey we all win.

This is true, but if the people that volounteer are separated from the people that HAVE to join, you wouldn't have that problem. But I think an American is an American. I would like to think that a person that is in prison, isn't going to shoot another American.

They still would have to have supervision. I don't see how they would be effective in small, easily supervised numbers, and in large numbers, they could become a force of their own.

Can't do it because that would be, for many prisoners, a death sentence passed on them by the government, when the jury who tried & convicted them -- and passed sentence -- did NOT sentence them to death. Violation of the Double Jeapordy Clause of the Constitution. Great idea, but that's why it wouldn't work. I think the courts (justifiedly) would rule for them on that argument.

I served in the US Navy at the end of the Vietnam Draft, and after. As the Draft ended, the US met its recruitment needs by essentially emptying the prisons into the Armed Services.

I can tell you that very, very few of these jailbirds amounted to very much, and everyone really tried to give them the help they needed. A shipmate is a shipmate, after all.

Most of the jailbirds were illiterate, or semiliterate, prone to violent outbursts, and didn't handle individual responsibility well. They were not dependable. They were incredibly hard to train, and needed constant supervision.

Putting jailbirds into the military greatly increases the risk to which put the other members of his unit. Please! Never, ever again!