The whole point of the article is they were spending ~42,000$ per month per inmate. If they were instead spending 1,000$ per month per person, they could afford

The whole point of the article is they were spending ~42,000$ per month per inmate. If they were instead spending 1,000$ per month per person, they could afford to be paying that to ten times as many people and still be spending a quarter of what they are now. Plus with the added bonus of (hopefully) less crime. I'm not claiming those numbers are accurate, but as presented, it's a saving to keep people out of jail, not a cost. Besides, right now there's obviously a financial incentive to keep people out of jail, yet here we are, with the US having the highest portion of their population in jail of any country in the world. The financial incentive to the state obviously isn't working now.