Sir, - Helen Haughton (June (9th) has declared her intention to withhold part of her income tax in protest at the Minister of Justice, Equality and Law Reform's extravagant prison-building programme.
The Irish Penal Reform Trust lends its wholehearted support to her action. It is a sad commentary on the state of penal policymaking that individual citizens feel they have no option but to risk imprisonment in order to register their dismay at the overuse of imprisonment. What will it take to put a stop to Mr O'Donoghue's incarceration binge? - Yours, etc.,
Dr Ian O'Donnell, Director, Irish Penal Reform Trust, Lower Dominick Street Dublin 1.