great in practice but not theory as it costs a lot to house people inside. better still voluntary euthanasia for those on mega long stretches. and for small and medium persistan offenders a much shorter sharper shock of capture so to speak. i would certainly not agree that britain is namby pamby.

" Britain is Namby Pamby "   It seems to be a " depending who you are " statement.  i have seen the inside of Leicester prison, although not as an inmate and it filled me with horror. How anyone can stand months or years of living under those conditions is totally beyond me, but they do and go back for more time and again.

It should be made an experience for every one to dread

How anyone can stand months or years of living under those conditions is totally beyond me, but they do and go back for more time and again.

The above sentence says to me that the conditions in prison are proven still not  severe enough for the criminals serving their time in them, but there you go, I am all for taking away all criminals human rights, as they have done when committing their crimes on their victims. another thing I would like to say is all foreign criminals in our prisons, should be deported back to their own Countries to serve their time in their prisons. even if the tax payer of this Country has to foot the bill. there is a lot more I could say but I think it has all been said before

Despite the widespread bankruptcy and unemployment of late, I still strongly feel that prisoners living in modern luxurious circumstances ought to work for their keep.

The tasks they could be set could be menial and monotonous, with a fixed rate of pay from which their "board and lodging" in such convivial surroundings could be deducted.The rest would go towards paying off their debt to society. Once they were clear they would let out with no hard feelings (not free me, anyway).

In the case of murderers and the likein "for life" , they would still be expected to pay their way by contributing towards the high cost of keeping them in prison. Whether the knowledge of having to "slave away for the state" to the end of their lives might be a further deterent to would be offenders or not I do not know.

I could forgive a person (thief, mugger...) for working off his/her debt to society after commiting a crime -

But all this pussy footing around with criminals gives me the belly ache.

There is an obivious solution to the cost, the shortage of accommodation and the overly high standard of living in prison.

Just like we do with jobs and services, export the care of prisoners to third world countries  where the costs are much less, the conditions worse and much needed cash is injected into poor economies.

Marl