Madam, – Not long ago, I endured two nights in an Irish hotel which cried out for the leadership skills of Basil Fawlty. I say nothing to identify its location (I doubt if it is unique) but it stands in its own grounds, and the cost of the wall that the Government plans to encircle a field with at Thornton Hall (Front page, July 28th) would easily convert it into a secure facility.
I accept that there would be some health and safety issues in using it as a jail since felons should not have access to naked electric wires, and its conversion to a penal institution would raise philosophical questions about the nature of punishment.
But surely we could use zombie hotels to solve the Government’s somnolent prison strategy? – Yours, etc,