19 JULY 1986, Page 25

Pentonville cure

Sir: A. M. Daniels (The naked lady of Hackney', 12 July) is quite right that a spell in prison is a good means of obtaining rapid NI-IS treatment. I once represented a rogue in court who was convicted of stealing a lorry load of plastic airplane kits somewhere near the Dartford Tunnel. When visiting him in Pentonville he told Inc he was not going to appeal against the sentence. He explained that he would be operated on for his bunions while in jail, and that his whole sentence was significant- ly shorter than the waiting period for NHS treatment in the outside world. No doubt he left jail better enabled to continue his villainy than when he went in.

Richard Vane

Gladstone Tower, Hutton-in-the-Forest, Penrith, Cumbria