SO, the prisons are all full now. I for one do not join in the clamour to simply build more of the same. I agree with Julian Cole's article (Packed prison folly, The Press, October 12) that "it doesn't solve the problem, it merely makes it bigger".

It has been fairly widely publicised that 67 per cent of the prison population re-offends. There is no reason why this would change simply by building a few thousand extra suites, sorry, I mean cells.

My layman's presumption about the options someone has when they choose to offend goes something like this. He/she weighs up potential gain by committing criminal act, then considers chances of likely detection/apprehension - probably very small, likely chance of it coming to court - similarly small, chance of imprisonment - even smaller. Then if worst case scenario happens, other than inconvenient, and mildly annoying, is it that big a deal?

The only deterrent, to my mind, would be if it was such a seriously unpleasant and austere environment that likely perpetrators would be petrified of having to set foot in one of Her Majesty's prisons. Repeat offenders should see their conditions seriously deteriorate with every term of imprisonment.

I'm sure the idea of a bare, concrete cell, with three meals a day pushed under the door, and a hole in the corner for sanitation for months or years on end, would abhor some lily-livered liberals, but something resembling this prospect would I fear be the only thing that might ultimately deter the hardened repeat criminal.

None of the political parties is prepared to grasp the nettle with this issue. I see no reason why things will not continue to deteriorate, as they have for the last few decades.

Graeme Rudd, Kerver Lane, York.