A taste of military discipline would transform our prisons

From: Barrie Frost, Watson’s Lane, Reighton, Filey.

THE Government should restore sanity to a prison sentence by removing all the luxuries prisons have been stuffed with, and introduce a training regime similar to the Army basic training of National Service.

Those who experienced the latter know few would want to endure another period by re-offending; the exercise would eliminate the need for state-of-the-art gymnasium equipment and, as the eight-week period of “square bashing” seemed more like a lifetime, shorter prison sentences could be more appropriate for all but those who are a danger to the public.

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As for those who maintain this would result in prisoners rioting, well, if they wreck their accommodation, they would have to endure the conditions brought about by their wilful destruction.

The savings to the taxpayers would be huge, with society greatly benefiting from a reduction in crime, but the criminal would also benefit, as prisons would, once more, rehabilitate instead of encouraging re-offending.

Nothing like this will happen though, for it doesn’t encompass the superior thinking of those charged with addressing the prison problem.

We will carry on with the same failed, muddled, so-called civilised thinking and keep wondering why criminals just don’t play by the rules.

From: Michael Turner, Alwoodley, Leeds.

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WHAT kind of perverse judicial system is it that allows a family to be subjected to detailed and intimate public scrutiny on the basis of speculative theories and yet denies the introduction of highly relevant and persuasive evidence, such as the sexual inclinations of killer Levi Bellfield in relation to schoolgirls (Yorkshire Post, June 25)?

Not only did the Judge, Mr Justice Wilkie, fail to afford any form of protection to Milly Dowler’s family, but he failed to allow the jury to judge for themselves the relevance or otherwise of the available evidence in the context of the events surrounding the disappearance of Milly.

Yet again an example of full consideration for the accused and none for the witnesses.