Practically speaking, even the option to be home bound if you have a home, apartment, or willing caretaker could be a serious blow to the prison industrial complex, and the incentive structures that allow these guards to commit horrific abuse.
Honestly I’m not sure how it would pan out but it does appear that the power to abuse is directly correlated with the number of inmates and revenue generated as a result thereof.
The rich and the poor alike are forbidden from sleeping under bridges!
Everyone has exactly the same opportunity to invest in the stock market and make high returns!
Y'know, aside from the pesky fact that a large percentage of Americans have no savings—not because they are feckless and irresponsible with their money, but because wages have not risen to match expenses over the course of several decades.
And the pesky fact that poverty among marginalized groups is disproportionately much higher than among able-bodied white men.
Yes, truly everyone has exactly the same opportunities in this great country of ours!
In fact, there's plenty of evidence that prison is, in many cases, a net negative, as it takes people who committed crimes of opportunity or poverty and turns them into either hardened criminals who see it as a lifestyle, or people who have no choice but to commit crimes to survive, as we treat them as nonpersons and shut them out of society.
There is zero evidence prison is a net negative for society. No one is running RCTs here. Progressives advocating this stuff completely ignore second order effects and we see them play out in west coast cities. The other major fallacy is that criminals can or want to be rehabilitated -- they mostly can't or won't. Prison is undoubtedly negative for the criminals, but that doesn't mean it is a net negative for society.
The if you can afford it bit makes makes it even more likely that rich and powerful aren't appropriately punished for their crimes.
Maybe improve the prisons instead so everyone has a proper chance at rehabilitation.
The issue is what to do for people without a house. But in a perfect society, you're right. We still are not there yet, so working on improving the current systems should be preferred.