When it comes to making sure her children attend school, Patricia Amos is a failure.

She is paying the penalty - behind bars again, this time for the transgressions of her 15-year-old daughter, Jackie.

Oxfordshire County Council claims that her previous incarceration led to a decrease in truancy across the county. Therefore yesterday's sentence can be likened to beating the same horse to bring the rest of the herd into line.

If truancy levels have fallen -- apart from in the Amos household -- then surely Patricia Amos has served her purpose and should not be made to trouble the staff of a house of correction once more?

She needs help, not prison. One does not need a degree in either psychology or medicine to realise she is a sick woman.

If the county council wants to keep the truancy issue in the public eye and if they must punish someone to show they mean business, may we suggest they look around and pick on someone their own size?

Patricia Amos is not up to the battle.