Some people think certain prisoners should be made to do unpaid community work instead of being put behind the bars. To what extent do you agree?

Crime is unquestionably prevailing in our society. Prisoners are punished hard to commit a crime. However, few people believe that defaulters should be involved in unpaid community services despite locking them in jails. I partially accord to this viewpoint and provide reasons for holding this opinion. To commence with, sometimes people do crimes due to unfavorable circumstances but get caught and face severe punishments. I reckon that it is cruel. Judges should enquire about the reasons for committing. They should be admitted to community services as it will help them to improve the mistakes. For instance, a person who do small theft only once just to satisfy his/her hunger. Instead of putting in prison, jury must involve him/her in some selfless society services or give an opportunity to improve deeds. Furthermore, I think services like taking care of old people or cleaning up public buildings can actually benefit a criminal to get change. On the contrary, it is believed that when an individual is forgiven once, there is a possibility that he/she would do it again. So hard punishments will teach them a lesson. We cannot forgive a drug smuggler and a gangster who keep on repeating the crimes rather they should be sent to prisons. Who knows if their mind set change or not after getting involved in community works. Therefore, overlooking such deeds that could harm someone is not right. To sum, I think community services are helpful in certain cases only. Government should introduce ways that could help wrongdoers to ameliorate their mistakes.