Is this a good idea?...

Colorado is thinking of using inmates to fill in the labor shortage on farms.

A plan to enlist prison inmates to work on Colorado farms that are experiencing a labor shortage has the potential to solve a host of problems at once.

Last year farmers near Pueblo saw crops rot in the fields because, they say, the legislature's crackdown on illegal immigrants diminished the size of their traditional pool of migrant labor. [More]

I don't know about this. To begin with I find the equating of farm work to punishment unfortunate. I also have real doubts about the productivity of forced labor. To put it mildly, I think growers will have a big adjustment from migrant workers - who from all accounts were prodigious workers.

Something about people working in fields with guards around them is historically repugnant and diminishes our profession, in my opinion. A sane immigration policy would be a better answer.