25 JUNE 1988, Page 26

Sir: I wish Paul Barker well in his campaign for

the establishment of .huMane penal colonies. This is a splendid idea whose complete dismissal by prison reformers and the Government is inexplicable. I raised the suggestion in an article in the Guardian in 1986 and did not receive a single letter that was not contemptuous of the plan. The truth is that the English cannot rid themselves of the belief that a sentence must be a punishment. The thought of wrongdoers leading healthy lives farming and fishing in remote places is too ghastly to contemplate. That is what many do for their holiday!

Stephen Pimenoff

3 Naunton Terrace, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire