A serious suggestion, make prison sentences shorter, but re-introduce 'Hard Labour' and 'Rigourous Imprisonment'*.

On a lighter note, the alternative, for young offenders, is high fat, high salt, high carbohydrate foods, minimum exercise, minimum reading matter (just TV and video games) and turn them into 'couch potatoes'. At least that way, if they re-offend, they'll be easier to catch. ;-)

W


* Very basic food, everything carried out at 'the double', bags of 'bull' and 'beastings' - a bit like the characature of National Service basic training writ large (think of the film "The Hill", but without the desert climate