Originally Posted by iguanamanc

Punish an offender further? Further than what?

Sorry, I should have been clearer. By 'punish further' I mean some of the measures advocated in this thread - taking away all their amenities hard labour etc.

Remove the offender from society, stripping them of their freedom? Most definitely yes.

I doubt you would get anyone to disagree with you here!

Would the re-offending rate be affected by making a prison harsher. Not if more of them committed suicide whilst in there. OK I didn't mean that.

Prison is not a nice place to go? Not for you or I probably, but for some of these guys it must be like a hotel, see the first post.

I think that the statements made in the articles apply to category C and D prisons, rather than category A and B, where the regimes are much tougher. This does not mean that there is no problem, but I think this distinction needs to be made.

I think many of us would welcome a retributive theory - or rather practice - of punishment. What would your answer be?