1 MAY 1964, Page 18

LONG SENTENCES

S1R,—It worries me that Mr. Sparrow does not even mention the most dismaying feature of these terrible punishments. A term of thirty years in prison (forty in the case of Blake) constitutes a barbarously protracted asphyxiation of human personality. The men were wicked indeed but are entitled to the possibility of reform. In what sense can one have 'reformed' a person spiritually destroyed or maimed? Let us hope at least that this case will lead to early and radical alterations in our prison system. This plea is humane, not sentimental.