The Editor, Sir:

I write in response to 'Hanging in the balance'. It is a hard fact to accept, but our criminals are using the existing correctional system as a guerrilla training ground. This is against modern thinking that a penal institution should be one that first punishes criminals by removing them from society and by extension, inhibits their ability to perpetrate other crimes; second, that it should serve as a form of payback for the harm and distress that they have caused their victims; and, finally, should have as a goal the rehabilitation and reform of criminals.

Criminals in the Jamaican correctional system, mainly prisons, are using these facilities as common grounds to network and form small, mobile, informal armies. It's similar to guerrilla training where criminals study and exchange ideas on how to attack and drive fear into vulnerable targets in the society. The thought of going to prison is like a criminal's pilgrimage to show that he or she has been to the pits and survived and is now even more ruthless than before. Sad to say, but our correctional system has been more successful at churning out more hardened criminals than at deterring and controlling crime.

Correctional system

There is no easy answer to the challenge, but if we cannot successfully correct our correctional system - no pun intended - we as a nation will be forever experiencing increased severity of crimes. Currently, our policymakers are debating whether to keep or abolish capital punishment from our land. We must be mindful that academia has heavily debated this aspect of the criminal justice system and one thing is clear: The death penalty is the ultimate punishment as it does not offer a second chance.

I say we keep the death penalty and put murderers to death. It may not be the answer to our crime problem, but it will surely send the message that justice is alive.

I am, etc.,

KIRK TYRELL

kirkty@hotmail.com.