Maybe taking this path out doesn't seem fair to their victims or their families, but maybe it is still a better option then spending 45,000 a year to keep them alive.
Oh! The United States would never give up the possibility of marketing, exploiting and making as profitable as possible for the government in power the potential services and free labor that its inmate population would provide them. There is a very obvious reason for their high prisoner population. And it is the fact that only $45k in annual expenses for their maintenance and keep them alive in prisons, it's just a pitance compared with what they can generate and are currently generating for the state.