Newspaper headlines: Crime and punishment divides press - BBC News
There are widely different views ahead of a speech on prison numbers by Justice Secretary Liz Truss.
Several papers concern themselves with matters of crime and punishment, as Justice Secretary Liz Truss prepares to deliver a speech rejecting calls for cuts in the number of people in prison.

The Daily Telegraph reports that Ms Truss will say it would be dangerous to public safety if the number of inmates went down, simply to meet a target.

The paper describes the forthcoming speech as a "rebuke" to Labour, which had called for the prison population to be reduced by half.

The Daily Express praises the justice secretary's approach, calling it a "forceful riposte" to Labour's "softly, softly" attitude.

While the Express acknowledges that rehabilitation is vital, it says Ms Truss's assertion that "public protection is paramount" cannot be said often enough.

An editorial in the Times, though, cautions that prisons in England and Wales are "full to bursting" and will breed more violence and criminality if ministers fail to tackle overcrowding.

The paper urges the justice secretary to revisit sentencing guidelines, which are "keeping too many people inside for too long", as the only way to repair what it calls a broken system.

Writing in the i, commentator Ian Birrell challenges politicians to "defy the media" and adopt some radical new approaches.

He argues that tougher sentencing is rarely the answer.

When it comes to knife crime, for example, he says the threat of prison does not deter "scared or silly people from carrying these weapons, just as prohibition of drugs fuels gangsterism".

"What a waste!" proclaims the front of the Daily Mail.

The paper accuses government ministers and officials of a series of blunders that have cost the public £5.5bn in two years.

The Mail has analysed the accounts of Whitehall's 20 departments.

It says the biggest money waster was the Ministry of Defence, which wrote off almost £2bn - including £11m on two RAF drones that crashed during testing.

Another £1m went on x-ray equipment which was intended to screen passengers for TB at two airports but was then scrapped after a change in policy.

The paper laments a combination of "blunder, muddle and incompetence", and describes such "arrant waste" as an insult to taxpayers.

The Sun reports how a man it calls an "Albanian murderer" was deported from the UK but managed to sneak back in under the noses of the "bungling" Border Force.

It says the "violent criminal" was kicked out of the UK in 2009 when he was found to have escaped from prison in Albania.

He is pictured apparently running a car wash business in Leicestershire.

The paper's leader column says the case "beggars belief", and exposes how vulnerable Britain's borders are.

While variety may be the spice of life, the Times reports that bland uniformity is more the order of the day for millions of us when it comes to lunch.

A survey suggests that more than three-quarters of office workers have eaten the same midday meal for the past nine months.

More than seven in ten of the unimaginative diners said eating the same thing was "easy".

In the most extreme example, one respondent reported eating a ham sandwich and a piece of fruit every day since they started work 20 years ago.