This American Rehabilitation Corps is a great idea. Those who volunteer for it should get reduced time; and anyone in on lesser felonies should be eligible. IF they run off and get caught again, max time in hard.
The same principle could be used to attract hundreds of young, restless youths who do not want to serve in the military but wouldn't mind getting a start in a work corps. I could name five or six candidates right off the top of my head. As in the Roosevelt era they could be put to work building shelter for the old and the homeless, supporting medical emergencies, warehousing relief supplies, renovating national parks, resurfacing broken roads or fixing public works allowed to degrade. They could be trained as medical technicians and help move the alkies and methheads who roam the streets of America's cities into some kind of health and productivity again, care for veterans overburdened by trauma and guilt, and build new starts for unwed mothers, too.
This is an excellent notion. I would expect a huge percentage of these candidates would turn to and do well in such a program, if they were given the start. People flourish whent hey are not suppressed or beaten down...at least, the majority of them do.