What we need in this country are workhouses.In 19th century England, able-bodied men didn’t get welfare. They — and their families — were sent to the workhouse. These were huge buildings that provided a place to live, work and earn money, as well as medical care,food, clothes and education. Great Britain put poor folk in workhouses; convicts were put on ships, taken halfway around the world and dropped off in Australia.Workhouses were a horrible experience, especially for poor women and children, but the modern workhouse can be a replacement for prisons where instead of being a burden on society, inmates pay their way by doing work that is contracted to any company or business that needs nuts put on bolts.We need workhouses in America because locking people up so they can idle away the hours and days is not cost efficient.