In my opinion, actual community service of some kind is far preferable to prison, both to society, and to the prisoners. Why lock up perfectly fit human beings

In my opinion, actual community service of some kind is far preferable to prison, both to society, and to the prisoners. Why lock up perfectly fit human beings for life, when we as a society could say, you know what? This person murdered somebody, and as a way of paying back society, they're going to work as a trash collector for 20 years on minimum wage. Far cheaper than paying for their prison upkeep, and no perverse incentive from private prisons. Yes, there are issues around them running or reoffending. But I think tech might be able to solve these problems. We just choose the easy way out and pay tons of money to lock them up. I think there's a missed opportunity here.