Re your article (Judges told to favour community alternatives over short prison sentences, 20 May), those given short custodial sentences risk losing their job and home, and there can be a negative impact on family relationships. Being released from prison homeless, unemployed and estranged from family increases the chances of reoffending. Community-based sentences should reduce this and have a positive impact on recidivism.
Judith Feline
Former governor, HMP Maidstone, Kent
• I couldn’t agree more with Patrick Grant (‘Buy less!’: why Sewing Bee’s Patrick Grant wants us to stop shopping, 19 May). In 2018, I started an experiment to not buy any clothes for a year – it lasted three years, well into the pandemic. I had begun the new year with throwing out 19 pairs of shoes, all with some disrepair. I now buy very few new things. Buying quality is the key, rather than fashionable items. Oxfam will give you a £5 Marks & Spencer voucher if you donate at least one item of M&S clothing.
Angela Vnoucek
Shrewsbury, Shropshire
