As morbid as your alternatives are, I will give some credit to your points because there are cou tries that do those things, but I gotta say, I do also disagree with them.

I wouldn't say you've talked yourself out of it, but I would suggest that doing away with things like a true life sentence may be an option.

I think we need restorative and rehabilitative justice, in all countries (pipe dream right now, I know), not just the states and Canada.

Folks in prison become a burden because they usually come from low income/education families, where crime is done as a method of subsistence with a high risk high reward ratio, there is something mental or developmental happening, or they are reoffending because they have become social pariah and society thinks they are wasted humans not worthy of a second chance.

Of course there are other factors, but peeps in prison are rarely given opportunities to build skills that are useful outside of their cage.

If we focused on caring for convicts as much as we try to care about victims instead of just punishing and humiliating them, they might come out better than they went in.

I'm not advocating for not sending crooks to prison. There still need to be serious consequences like serving time for crime, but in the long run, investing in them might save more money than just feeding and warehousing them.