Letter: Street warders

While I believe that prison is a must for those who have committed certain levels of crime if only to remove them from the lives of those on whom they prey (your report, 2 February), I will go some way on accepting that certain short-term sentences would be better spent helping the community against whom they have sinned.

Of course, the question of how we finance the supervision of such schemes is being raised given the current financial cutbacks.

Well, if fewer people are to be sent to prison, why aren't prison warders assigned to this job rather than social workers who probably have no experience of ensuring that the work to be done by these individuals is actually carried out on time and to the community's satisfaction?

Michael Hogg

Craigfoot Walk

Kirkcaldy, Fife