CT RILEY continues to believe that a prisoner must be denied his right and duty as a citizen to vote (HAS, June 2). So he and I must disagree.

But really this comes down to how each of us, as human beings, feels about ourselves.

And prisoners, being also human, are like all of us, motivated in part by how they regard themselves and how they feel other people regard them. Does the prisoner feel society wants him to be a member like everybody else or does he feel no one cares about him? Therefore, why should he care about them?

I’m certainly not claiming this is the whole source of criminal behaviour – it’s just one factor of many.

But just for a moment, I invite Mr Riley as a fellow human being to imagine himself in the following situation.

After your prison sentence, everyone regards you as scum and treats you as scum. Would you feel “I’m a member of society and I want to do right like everyone else”? Or might you more likely feel: “They all just think I’m rubbish, they don’t want to know me, so why should I worry about them? I’ll carry on doing jobs and use what I’ve learned inside to make sure I won’t get caught.”

In short, what happens during a prisoner’s sentence is key.

Countries that have reduced crime rates have invested more in treatment and re-education and less in simple punishment.

Punishment has its place. But rehabilitation is of at least equal importance if we want to tackle crime rates.

Stan Walinets, Mickleton.