Scrap HS2 And Build Prisons?

From: Alan Chapman, Beck Lane, BingleyI WRITE in support of the strong, direct and confrontational views on the unwelcome decisions of parole boards releasing convicted prisoners back into society too early, as expressed so well by Barry Foster of Whitby (Yorkshire Post, October 12).
He quotes the cases of children abused and neglected by their mothers, leading to very early death. However, what are the fundamental reasons behind early release?
I believe we need to go far back to when Parliament in its wisdom, and left-wing bias, repealed capital punishment with life imprisonment. Those who would have been executed by the state and placed in a cemetery are still occupying cells in our overcrowded prisons.
Successive parliaments have failed to radically increase the state’s capacity to provide sufficient places to lock up criminals so that they serve their full sentence.
Additionally early release for good behaviour should be replaced by extended incarceration for bad behaviour.
Time to scrap the grandiose and expensive HS2 train line and spend a sliver of that huge waste on doubling the size of our custodial capacity, so keeping convicted offenders away from the threatened public for much longer periods. Yorks Post.
The logic about 'clearing prison places by using the death penalty' is profoundly flawed. For that to work - ALL murderers would need to hang. Even at the height of capital punishment in modern times (20th century) only one in sixteen was actually executed. On that basis - a few hundred places could be freed only - and that is only of those currently in prison. The annual return would be small. Still - let's give it a try!