[MotherBear]

It would take the burden off the government (or should I say ?taxpayer?) if prisoners were able to work to support themselves (although it doesn?t make clear whether they?d get pocket money to buy snacks and ciggies or a wage sufficient to buy their own meals etc.). Having had the work ethic instilled in them, for some it could mean ending their sentences in a better frame of mind, with skills they?ve learnt and can put to some use outside. However, I wouldn?t like to say just how many would end up having benefited from the open prison experience. It?s no good them going back to their normal lives thinking ?That wasn?t so bad, I wouldn?t mind a bit more of that?. There will always be the scallywags that will not be, and don?t particularly want to be, reformed. This is where the deterrent part comes in and where someone would need to crack the whip, ensuring the work was punitive enough to linger unfavourably in their memory banks.

I wonder if they would be supervised whilst out working in the community. Without supervision, some ?normally decent, but easily mislead? types could try to make a go of it and learn something of future benefit to them, but what of the scallywags that will take advantage of the situation and muck about, wasting time? I?d hope this would be taken into account and they would at least be closely monitored whilst they?re outside.