Linsey Wynton meets the former hostage negotiator Terry Waite, who is appearing at the Brighton Festival this week.

On Wednesday he will be reading extracts from his latest book 'Travels with a Primate', which recounts his travels with Dr Robert Runcie, the former Archbishop of Canterbury.

Best known for the five years he spent in a Lebanese prison cell, it is perhaps no surprise Terry Waite believes prisons are not the answer.

He thinks they are especially bad for young offenders and is keen to see significant changes in the system.

Instead of being locked up, he believes young criminals should be made to clear up graffiti and vandalism and put something back into their communities.

Since his release ten years ago Terry Waite has devoted himself to charity work with the dedication he once gave to bargaining for the release of hostages in the Middle East.

Amongst the number of causes he has given his support to are two Sussex-based charities.

He supports Hurstpierpoint charity the Inside Out Trust, which helps prisoners to help themselves and others. He believes people, particularly the young, must realise they have responsibilities as well as rights and has welcomed the Government's proposals to make graffiti artists and vandals repair the damage they have done.

He said: "I do not believe in being soft on crime but you do not solve problems by locking people away. More could be done with imagination and initiative without locking people up."

Mr Waite feels a sense of affinity with the members of the Inside Out Trust. He said: "Prisoners often tell me they know I had a harder time than they did."

Indeed he did. The first year of his imprisonment was spent in solitary confinement, where he was chained to a cold floor and blindfolded. There was no chance of the avid reader of philosophy and literature being allowed any books. But he turned the situation into an opportunity to reflect as well as write a number of books in his head.

Among them are two serious books about his time in prison and his third and latest which he will be talking about at the Brighton Festival tomorrow.

Entitled Travels with a Primate, it includes 18 short stories of his journeys with the former Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie whose special envoy he was between 1980 and 1987.

Mr Waite was kidnapped when, against Dr Runcie's advice, he went to Beruit to negotiate on behalf of hostages. Although he does not admit he should have listened to the Archbishop, he does say he feels guilty for the anguish he caused him.

Mr Waite said: "I used to think of some of the more amusing incidents when I was in captivity. I wanted to show I had a sense of humour so I wrote the book for myself. It was also an attempt to turn a negative situation around because I believe something creative can be made out of instances when you have been knocked down."

The book recounts the time when the Archbishop was greeted at the Korean Olympic stadium with the message: "Welcome to Korea Archbishop Lunchie." It also tells of a visit to Scotland in which Mr Waite was recognised but the Archbishop was not.

Since his return Mr Waite has a sense of shared experience with the homeless. He has become the President of Emmaus, a charity providing a community and employment for homeless people which has a branch in Brighton.

He said: "When I came home I was shocked by the numbers of people there were on the streets. The levels of homelessness were disgraceful for a country which is supposed to be as developed as we are.

"I know what it is like when you loose pretty well everything and have no one to give you respect or dignity so I can understand what it's like to be on the streets. The Emmaus scheme is one of the best I have come across and the Brighton one is brilliant because it enables people to have a sense of their own worth.

There is nothing worse than patronising people or thinking you can solve homeless people's problems by giving them a house. People need the support of a community."

Dominic Dring, the leader of the Brighton Emmaus community, described Mr Waite as an ambassador. He said: "People feel very affirmed and also humbled by his support. He has helped give the wider community a better understanding of homelessness. The homeless are not just a bunch of junkies and wasters, they are disconnected in the way Terry Waite was."

So far there are seven Emmaus communities in the UK and 15 more on the way. Mr Waite, now 62, hopes to establish one in every city in the country before he dies.

Mr Waite will be discussing Travels with a Primate and other issues at the Pavilion Theatre at 5.30pm tomorrow.