It has probably come too late for Ms Dynamite and Pete Doherty, but in future offenders sentenced to do community service could find themselves in brightly coloured uniforms, helping out with the London Olympics.
It's all part of the home secretary, Charles Clarke's, plan to double the number of unpaid community service hours put in by offenders as an alternative to prison, under a new strategy to cut reoffending.
Intriguingly the strategy document said: "We hope this will include an important contribution towards the work necessary to prepare for the Olympic games".
What kind of punishment is this? Some 63,000 people have already put their names down to do voluntary work for the Olympics. Since some of them are bound to be turned away, will they then turn to petty crime in the hope of getting in on the act?
Mr Clarke's scheme is an extension of the community payback scheme under which local people choose what offenders should be doing in their areas. Mr Clarke thinks that tidying up grotty housing estates, or presumably preparing for the Olympic games, is a tougher sentence than lying on a bed in a prison cell.
Offenders will be seen to be "visibly paying back" the community for their crimes. Quite what they will wear is unclear. Some schemes already running put offenders in fluorescent vests, which makes them indistinguishable from many other people working outside, or indeed cyclists.
Will the government go further? To the delight of rightwingers in America, offenders in Phoenix, Arizona, are made to parade the streets dressed in pink underwear and flip flops. Ministers here are likely to go for something a bit more humdrum, such as a fluorescent T-shirt sporting a community payback logo.
Given the fashion industry's interest in all things lowlife, these could soon be a must-have item.
