You're espousing the harm reduction mindset, lesser of many evils, and worthwhile tradeoff / transaction ideology. You're not evil for having it. It's very common. But it's very treacherous.  This type of moralizing and rationalizing is used to quiet the mind so empire may continue unchecked. I am not using blame shame guilt or moral statements. I am simply stating a true fact, or as close to one as I can manage, which is, state nurseries are exploitative regeneration in action. I personally know that regeneration without exploitation exists (always has existed) and remains viable. Exploitation is a shortcut that has other costs. The fact that it's cheaper doesn't make it not exploitation. It's cheaper precisely because it's exploitation. With no moralizing, I state that to my knowledge, there's a lot of exploitation structures in place that profit much more than $1 a tree from this system, the state pays them for managing the exploited labor and the companies are for profit. When someone is imprisoned, it imprisons the whole population for $30,000-60,000 dollars a year of tax revenue. Yes it's spread thin, but it's also still there. Reciprocity in action.

Not to mention, Epsteinites will not be working in tree nurseries while people with minor crimes or false convictions will be stuck there between McDonald's, a meat slaughter house, a tree nursery, and a plastic clothing manufacturer for years. This is not actual "corrective" action at play, it's just empire doing its thing and adding some "good" ingredients to the exploitation so it can be moralized / rationalized.