Fri | Mar 29, 2024

Prevention is better than cure

Published:Thursday | February 25, 2021 | 12:10 AM

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Dr Horace Chang, minister of national security, is proposing to build a new prison at an estimated cost of $10 billion. This is a lot of money.

A prison is supposed to be a place for penalising and/or correcting perpetrators for acts already committed.

An accepted adage is ‘Prevention is better than cure’. Would it not then be more rational to spend a part of that money (maybe 50 per cent ) on the preventative aspects of crime, rather than the punitive? It is logical to assume that if there is no crime, then there will be no need for punishment, hence no need for prisons.

One could also say that if convicted murderers are duly executed, there would be less need for some cell space. This is just a thought.

RONALD R. FAGAN