Even so, I am slightly bemused by the many newspaper letters I have read in recent months demanding that prisoners must serve every last minute of a sentence.
Swinging pendulums, I would say!Surely, prisoners must be incentivised to behave well in prison. Certainly, the very worst misbehavers should have sentences increased but the average prisoner must learn to behave well. To an extent this can be accomplished by the nature of the 'regime' earned by individuals but ultimately, it is an early release which is the real dangled carrot.
Were these to be set at 20% - society gets the best of both worlds.
What must never be forgotten when considering 'the big picture' however, is that many of these prisoners have already enjoyed a significant reduction in sentence if they pleaded guilty before trial.
