In his letter about ever-lengthier prison sentences (18 August), Nik Wood makes two familiar mistakes in attributing the quote “prison is an expensive way of making bad people worse” to Douglas Hurd.

In fact, the line appeared in a white paper published in 1990 by Hurd’s successor, David Waddington. And there is no declaratory “is”. Instead, it warns that “prison can be an expensive way of making bad people worse” unless other rehabilitative measures are taken.

Wood suggests that Hurd was “an unlikely figure” to author such a thought. Waddington, a hardliner who supported the return of capital punishment, was far unlikelier. The true originator of the much misquoted line was probably the civil servant David Faulkner, a liberal on penal matters, whose influence on crime and punishment ended with the arrival of Michael Howard as home secretary.
Jon Silverman
Former BBC home affairs correspondent