Penals costing the same as Cons wouldNt solve the issue; the unit is simply redundant. The faction already has a fairly cheap, close-range basic infantry with Ooorah that is Ok at clearing buildings. Penals don't do anything Conscripts can't except having a bit more DPS, and they don,t have an AT grenade too.
The unit needs a role change. Either as tough, elite close range infantry (which then plays on the field of Shocks...) or my favored proposal, as Panzerfusilier-esque 6 man, medium-long range infantry, with a flamer upgrade that role changes them to an assault unit by unlocking also Ooorah or something. Or maybe give them lend-lease bazooka upgrade to solve the problem of SU's bad handheld AT. Something.
I agree with this, the only reason to get penals is a more duable squad than CEs that have a flamethrower.
Cons are fine, they'll beat volks in a 1v1 fight and have a lot of utility with merge and both nades. One thing that I'd like to see with cons actually is for them to do what they did with USF when they merged bars and zooks and merge AT and molotov nades into one upgrade.