Letter: Jail university

Thursday 01 January 1998 00:02 GMT

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Letter: Jail university

Sir: Your article "Rooms at the Ritz cheaper than places in child jails" (30 December) leads me to suggest that the Home Office should extract a weekly payment from the parents of the children in these new jails. It would only be a token sum but why should delinquent children be housed, fed and belatedly educated totally at the expense of the taxpayer?

On leaving the jail with a skill that gains them legitimate employment, deductions could also be made from the children's wages which would help pay for their education. After all, if that scheme is to be applied to university students, why not former child criminals?

JOHN GOLDSMITH

London SE25

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