It costs a lot of money to take care of a prisoner in terms of food, medical care and housing. Instead of using tax dollars to fund a prisoner, if that funding went to an after school program it would be more beneficial. More programs for schools provide children with something to do after school instead of committing misdeeds and then getting a criminal record, which then produces a vicious cycle of criminal behavior. This criminal cycle will then continue and add to the already overcrowded prison system. The goal here is to prevent a potential young offender from developing into a convicted criminal before it even begins. So using tax money that would have been used on a low-level convict who got arrested for marijuana, say, would be used to help prevent a future convict to begin with. Not only school programs, but even things that would help improve communities such as parks, job creation, etc. All of these things could also help prevent future prisoners, as parks are used for activities for children to gather and socialize instead of committing criminal mischief and job creations are used to avoid falling into crime. poverty, which in retrospect is one of the main reasons why people end up in criminal activities. So overall as you can see there would be so many benefits to using a low level convict's tax money for the future of our country.