Sir, – The concept of a judge ordering a convicted person to pay compensation to an injured party in lieu of a prison sentence is not new and is not a creation of the courts. It is a procedure designed by our politicians, who are the legislators, as far back as 1993 in section 6 of the Criminal Justice Act.
In cases where there is a minimal or no risk of reoffending it is a procedure which should be encouraged, not condemned. The calls to “lock ’em up and throw away the key” really annoy me since I am paying for it. There is an average of 4,500 prisoners in this country at an average annual cost per prisoner of €77,000, which comes to a staggering €34,650,000 – a sum which could provide a lot of cancer services where they are needed. Prisons are a very expensive luxury. – Yours, etc,