Hi there BELLY ol' chap...You are right of course. Your trouble is my friend you're too highly principled, and you're an honourable individual to go with it. The sort of miscreants we're dealing with here, are totally unscrupulous in both their dealing with their fellow human beings and with their individual government responsibilities viz. Taxation, and dare I say, Social Security.

There's a Sheriff in Arapaho County, in the State of Nevada in the US who runs his gaol very much like a Prison Camp. Attiring the inmates in the colour pink, and charging them or their families a modest daily rate for room & board, only those who are not destitute of course. Seems to be working OK, therefore any Govt. with a bit of 'ticker' could give it a go I suppose?

Funny how this important thread gets no flak from the standard resident anti-decency brigade ?

o sung wo, yes I know about that sheriff, have watched two docos about him,in the end he gets results, but again I am confronted that many do not share my view we can reform anything, if we truly want to, and a system that forces offenders to pay, for confinment, seems fairer than we the victims footing the bill, prison reform? a whole knew subject, but increased education while in prison? close continuing monitoring after release? it could go on and on a place to live and a job, before release, for me a system that by having set in stone sentences must one day end our courts contributing to our soft justice failures

'morning to you Belly...

Idealistically, you theory has much merit. No! It's got tremendous merit! However it would never get past the first reading in Parliament for many reasons. Chief among them, is your idea is so very novel, and visionary and dare I say impractical, therefore no political party would give it ago, because of the political apathy and inertia they all suffer from.

o sung wo in the end it is us, the average voter, who is the reason we get politicians and movements that are afraid of real change, if ANY party put such as this forward as an answer right now, the other side, more interested in being elected than our good, would oppose it, media, wrongly thinking even close to a majority of us are interested in PC would blacken it as inhuman, still one day such a policy will be considered, and the outlandish revolving door our justice system is will change

I honestly hope you're right Belly I really do. But with our current crop of 'no hoper's' that we've got in Parliament at the moment, we might be in for a very long wait. Take it easy BELLY ol' son.