On Tuesday, Chief Circuit Court Judge Westbrook J. Parker turned down a Suffolk man’s request to be placed on house arrest.

Parker made the right decision.

Christopher Keith Hicks, 35, had been ordered to begin serving a two-year jail term on June 2 for possessing child pornography. He was arrested outside Ruth Camp Campbell Memorial Library in Franklin in November 2008.

Hicks’ attorney, Tom Watkins, had requested house arrest because of his client’s medical condition.

House arrest would have made it too easy for Hicks to re-offend. He was charged with reproducing, selling, distributing or electronically transmitting child pornography and using a communications system to solicit a person over the Internet, with reason to believe the person is a juvenile.

Most homes have computers. Even if Hicks does not have a computer at home, it wouldn’t be difficult to hide one and continue with his escapades. He may have lured a juvenile to his home for the wrong reasons.

In addition, Hicks will probably get better medical treatment in jail than he would at home. There may even be laws requiring officials to provide that treatment.

So hats off to the judge. Thanks for keeping this type of offender behind bars.