But here’s the catch. Parolees wouldn’t simply be dumped on the street with 40 bucks in their pocket and no clear path toward re-entering society, the way they are now. “If someone needed to be locked up yesterday, he shouldn’t be completely at liberty today,” the researchers write. ”And he shouldn’t be asked to go from utter dependency to total self-sufficiency in one flying leap.”

Rather, the prisoner would be released to an apartment subsidized by the state. At the beginning, he would be subject to strict monitoring. Curfews. Cameras. GPS bracelets. No visitors without permission. “A prison without bars,” they call it.

Living this way, under 24-hour surveillance and strict rules, wouldn’t be easy or pleasant by any means. It’s still a form of punishment. But good behavior would be incentivized with loosened restrictions. Keep your curfew for three months? Get it extended by an hour. Stay away from your old drug haunts? Get permission to travel more broadly. Break any of these rules, even once? The restrictions tighten.