It is time that criminals paid back to society what they have taken from it and continue to take from it whilst in prison. The present regulations on the work that they do is pitiful at best. All prisoners should carry out community work every day of their sentence in order for them to realise just how much effort is required to keep our society functioning everyday - and how much it actually costs to maintain law and order. Criminals cost the tax payer billions of pounds every year in the crimes they commit - by way of the act that they commit, victim support, insurances and costs to the public, increase in product costs due to thefts, loss of revenue due to fraud, for policing, detecting and bringing to justice the criminals, the legal expenses and court system, the prisons, prison officers the facilities and the rehabilitation and probation services the social services for their families and the criminals when they 'get out' -all the heartache, pain and unrecoverable expense of decent citizens and the billions of hours of lost time they cause in the crime prevention activities, drug prevention and costs associated with that. I bet the government would not have a debt problem if there was no crime - but seeing that there is crime, then the criminals ought to pay back as much as can be squeezed out of them. So let's start with the criminals repairing and then maintaining the places where we live and enjoy - I am sure that we all have a favourite land mark, beauty spot, building or local playground or park, that we want to keep nice or improve -that cannot be done because of the council cost cutting requirements. What about the thousands of miles of railway embankment that are full of litter and rubbish, the rivers are full of hogweed and rubbish, the canals require dredging and repairing, our country walls and hedgerows need repairing and maintaining, the estuaries need dredging and clearing of rubbish, our thousands of miles of footpaths require repairs,fences,timber bridges over bogs and streams, pavings required and repairs along moors and clifftops -so many things that require only a pair of hands and the time -what better than the prisoners and social misfits -we need a firm and determined government to get to grips with this and to help us all feel that there is some payback - because at the moment the payback is not justice for decent citizens. If the prisoners do not work then every day that they refuse or do not do a decent days work then they have to do another day of prison with less 'privileges'.- I am sure the other prisoners would soon encourage them to do their bit.