You and I, the tax payers, are who ultimately pay for lodging for prisoners. It makes much more sense to me for the person who committed the crime to bear this

You and I, the tax payers, are who ultimately pay for lodging for prisoners. It makes much more sense to me for the person who committed the crime to bear this cost (if possible). The abuses of private prisons, etc is a tangential issue. As a high level, it's all still funded by taxpayer money.