THE following is the text of the letter from the British Home Office minister, Mr David Maclean, to Mrs J. Naylor (79), a constituent of his in Appleby, Cumbria, who was concerned at the treatment of women in British jails.
Dear Mrs Naylor,
Thank you for your letter of February 13th on compassion towards criminals. To quote from your own letter, "All you seem to think about is protecting the public from dangerous criminals and only have compassion for the victims of crime". To that charge I can do no better than plead guilty.
When you wrote to me on Thursday, you pointed out that you were deeply shocked by an article in the Independent on the treatment of an IRA prisoner.
I too was shocked by the newspapers I read last Thursday which told how an IRA bullet tore apart the body of a 23 year old man called Stephen Restorick.
He was just a young British soldier doing his duty, trying to protect the public and save lives in Northern Ireland.
You are worried that the IRA prisoner will be denied some fundamental human rights when giving birth. Where were the lobby groups and prison reformers worried about Stephen Restorick on Wednesday night? You are campaigning for her to breastfeed her baby; who is campaigning for the Stephen Restoricks of this world who will never bounce a baby on their knee ever again?
No doubt over the next few months we will all become familiar with the name of this IRA prisoner as campaign groups up and down the country defend her rights.
But, Mrs Naylor, please remember Stephen Restorick's name, because after his funeral this week we will never hear of him again and he will soon be forgotten, along with all the other victims of crime, unless people like me (but more importantly the vast majority of ordinary people in this country) think more about the good people in society rather than the evil.
When the day comes that the evil scum of the IRA are no longer murdering the innocent, and our children are no longer tortured by the Hindleys of this world, then I am certain that when I no longer need all my compassion for the innocent I shall be able to spare some for the perpetrators.
Yours sincerely,
David Maclean