Point taken, McGrath. But part of the problem is that jails are badly run, because:

- they allow inmates to have contact with one another in uncontrolled conditions, so they are able to "re-educate" each other in crime and learn how to commit other crimes while in jail.

- the regime in jail is too soft and needs to be toughened up so that the thought of 'doing time' is a deterrent. The only obligation we have to criminals is to keep them humanely and feed them a proper nutritionally balanced diet.

I still believe that a harsher regime with longer sentences would help deter some crimes from being committed. The laughably short sentences handed out these days for serious offences is no deterrent at all.

The reason for jail overcrowding is that more crimes have been committed, partly because of this lack of deterrent. Detection rates probably haven't improved as a percentage, but because more crimes are committed, the numbers of criminals convicted has risen (the government will no doubt use this as spurious "evidence" that they have "cracked down" on crime, the causes of crime, etc.)