The blunt facts of mass incarceration for criminal offenders in United are very well known as they house the world’s largest prison population (Raphael & Stoll 2011). As of March 2010, the incarceration population in United States are as high as 2.3 million, making them the world leader in incarcerating its citizens. The jurisdiction believes that prison has an important role to play in protecting the community against offenders and in punishing them for their crime (Foucault, 2009). However, research and evidence have shown that the use of imprisonment has many disadvantages. The rate of growth in criminal justice system has slowed in recent years and the call for prison reforms have largely fallen on deaf ears (Raphael & Stoll, 2011). Raphael and Stoll (2011) argued that the society still does not have a clear and unambiguous evidence or closure about the impact of incarceration on criminal behaviour. They also noted that crime reduction impacts of incarceration fades with the increasing number of people are sentenced to imprisonment (Raphael & Stoll, 2011). Imprisonment can also remove the chances for individual to make amends for their offence and give back to the society. In this aspect, it is important to have prison reforms and find effective alternatives to imprisonment. This article aims to explore and examine the cost and benefits of incarceration by giving critique of imprisonment. This article also aims to evaluate some of the alternative to imprisonment in order