Don't solve it, criminalize it

This is the true American Way.

If government is faced with a problem and doesn't really know how to solve it, then just criminalize it. That way you replace a tough problem with an easy one -- everybody knows how to build more jails.

Homeless? Just put them in jail. Problem solved.

Some problems are inherently hard to solve, maybe even impossible to solve. Building more jails might look a solution, but it doesn't really solve anything.