In his letter in the Echo of Wednesday, May 16, Andrew Martin speaks of the country requiring more prisons. 

Here in Dorchester we have a building that would make a perfectly good prison and indeed was a prison for decades until it was closed in 2013 by some totally out of touch idiots in Westminster. 

Mike Sear, who was the then chairman of the Dorchester Prison Officers’ Association, stated that the prison was perfectly “fit for purpose” and its closure was “millions wasted and 157 jobs lost”. 

So who should we believe; Mike Sears, the man of experience, or a bunch of do-gooders with their heads stuck up heavens only knows where? 

With a compulsory purchase order the building could be repossessed and turned back into what it was originally built for.

Niall Simpson
Dorchester