IMHO if the system is fair and there was a real crime (Not people getting punished for some BS „crime“ or for just belonging to a minority, wrong skin color etc.) then let them work. But not for corpos/financial reasons: Let them do things that make everyday life of everybody outside a bit better. This way they can at least give something back to society.

Edit: Forgot to mention that I don’t think that something like this would work in the US.