What kind of crime would be given a week or two in prison?
It isn’t the practice to impose prison sentence of less than one month because by the time the prisoner has been processed and been allowed remission for good behaviour it is time for him to be released. What’s more, the prison authorities don’t release over the weekend and are in the habit of erring on the side of caution and releasing the Friday before rather than be accused of incarcerating a prisoner for an unduly long period. The people who do go to gaol for short periods tend to do so for non payment of fines and these rules apply to them too. One shouldn’t forget the people who are sentenced to a fine or one day’s imprisonment as an alternative. (This may also be done for people who owe modest amounts by way of fines which they’re not in a position to pay off.) They never even make it to prison — they normally sit meekly at the back of the court until they are told they may leave. Any imprisonable offence may be dealt with by way of a short term of imprisonment rather than a lo
