While reading this thread I remember a book I read a few years ago. It is
call Aftermath by Charles Sheffield. They had a very interesting way of
dealing with people convicted of a crime and sentenced to time in prison.
Essentially if you are sentence to prison you are put into a very deep
sleep and hooked up to a machine that feeds you and takes care of you
bodily functions. You are then put into a drawer in a warehouse with all
the other prisoners. You age normally. When your sentence is up you are
removed from the machine, woken up and released. There is no time off for
good behavior. There is no parole. You just wake up X years olders and
the world and your family have moved on. There is no death penalty. If
you are sentenced to life (or death) in prison you are hooked up to the
machine, placed in the drawer and allowed to sleep until you die. If you
are later found innocent you can be awoken and released.

This is actually a very small part of the book. It is SF/Fantasy and a
quick read for a fairly thick book. I recommend it to any SF fan.

Anne (in Ellicott City, MD)