Jonah: I don’t know, I’ve never been in jail, or had much to do with that

system. I did once, though, back in the early 1980s in London, attend a

course with a guy who was changing career after many years in the prison

probation service. At conversation over lunch one day, I asked him what

proportion of people in jail were innocent. His answer shocked me: “Around

five percent.” He then added a qualifier: “However, that’s the proportion

innocent of the thing they were sent down for. They did something else

just as bad, but the police couldn’t nail them for it.” Well, then, I

asked, what proportion of the prison population is innocent, not only of

what they were convicted of, but of anything at all of equal gravity?” He

chewed on that one for a while. “Probably not zero, but pretty darn close.”