Karl,
I think the rationale had more to do with intimidation of those not
transported than the utility of those who were.
After the Duke of Monmouth's Rebellion (led by Charles II's popular,
Protestant, but illegitimate son) against James II (Charles II's younger,
unpopular, secretly Roman Catholic brother) failed ca.1685 judges
arbitrarily sentenced large numbers of rebels (or suspected rebels) they did
not have executed immediately to transportation and servitude for life.
Barbados seemed to be particularly popular as the destination. Some of
those transported to Barbados and who survived eventually escaped to here in
Virginia (and probably to other colonies).
There may have been some segregation of political prisoners by type (perhaps
to keep various factions at each others throats and to prevent the formation
of any unified resistance to the Stuarts. I remember a PBS series on the
English language that had a brief segment on another island near Barbados
which had been the destination of large numbers of Irish prisoners during
the same era. The present inhabitants who are quite black speak English
with an almost identical brogue, etc., as the current inhabitants of that
part of Ireland from which the rebels were transported. They also trace
their families back to the few Irish who survived long enough to leave
descendants on the island.
Harold Hahn
ChristianObs(a)jnpcs.com