Wow great example of alternatives you gave there!
I think that the most important thing to do is to understand that prision is torture, is slavery, is sadic, AND it spreads violence and makes the situation worse.
If that fact enters in peoples minds, changes and options will start reaching those minds. What we have today is the opposite, people moslty think that jail is fair, that we must punish, so peace changes are always (almost always) interrupted.
The most serious crimes are the most difficult to think of, especially when it's not the first offender's crime, and when the offender is some kind psyco with no empathy. But we can choose to leave THOSE cases untill we come to a wise solution. Prisions are overcowded, and more than 90 per cent of prisioners are there because of lighter crimes, so alternative solutions for lighter crimes will also help "hard criminals" to live in better conditions.
Maybe in 100 years of alternative experiences we will come to an alternative solution for harder crimes, and if we dont, the world will be better anyway.
So, i insist in the fact that it's a long way, and that real changes come from the inside, so what i plan to do is to pay atention to my thougts and feelings, to think critically, to be opened to unlearn old constumes and to try new ones, to read, to debate, to write and compose.
Its a big peasure to speak with you! thanks =)