WHEN Gary Hart was jailed for causing the Great Heck rail disaster, many felt he had got off lightly.

Some survivors said five years' imprisonment was not long enough for a man whose criminally reckless behaviour had led to the deaths of ten people.

Those survivors and the relatives of the Great Heck victims are rightly furious to learn that Hart has been enjoying day release from prison only 18 months into his sentence.

Here is a man whose stupidity shattered lives, and who has since shown little remorse for what he did, taking a stroll in the summer sunshine with his family. How those who lost loved ones in the catastrophe he created would love to do the same.

They are outraged by Hart's day out not because he is a danger to the public. He is not. They are angry because treats like this undermine his punishment.

Somehow it has become unfashionable to talk of punishing law-breakers. Any debate on the efficacy of prison is usually centred on the need to protect the public and rehabilitate the offender.

Both roles are significant of course. But it is equally important that those who do wrong are made to pay a price: the punishment should fit the crime.

It is telling that the Hart row has erupted while he is detained in North Sea Camp jail near Skegness. This establishment was last in the news when a former resident, Lord Archer, attended a champagne party while on home leave.

Lord Archer was today released from jail after serving half of his four-year sentence for perjury. During that time, he was transferred to an open prison close to his home, a benefit usually denied to less well-known inmates.

In the cases of both Hart and Archer, the Prison Service has arguably shown itself to lack judgement.

In the specific case of Hart, its action has brought new agony to those people still coming to terms with life after Great Heck.

Updated: 11:00 Monday, July 21, 2003