THE public is sick of reading headlines like “Feral gang sent down by judge” (Echo, June 3).

A massive industry, costing billions, has arisen processing offenders through the criminal justice system.

Lawyers, social workers, probation officers, court officials and many others are making a living from habitual petty offenders.

The police must be sick of processing the same career petty offenders, who contribute absolutely nothing to society, who are just a constant drain on the economic resources the nation.

In countries such as Saudi Arabia and Singapore, where prisons are not as comfortable as they are here, they do not have a rehabilitation problem, because there are far fewer offenders.

If we want to reduce crime we must make deterrence a priority over rehabilitation. We can start by making prisoners do real work for their food, such as digging ditches, and making prisons more of a spartan environment to live in.

Keith Dewison, Billingham.