IN DURANCE VILE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 177, 29 July 1938, Page 7

IN DURANCE VILE.

LOT OF THE PRISONER

Drastic Schemes to Ameliorate

Old Conditions.

NICER DRESSES FOR WOMEN.

United Press Association.—Copyright.

(Received 9.30 a.m.)

LOXDOX, July 28. Sir Samuel Hoare, Hbme Secretary, in a speech m the House of Commons, announced drastic changes to ameliorate the lot of prisoned and keep them m closer touch with the outside world.

Henceforward they would be allowed to interview friends in their civilian clothes and mix together on Saturday afternoons in order to break down the evil of too great solitude. Certain convicts will be transferred to local prisons to enable them to keep in closer touch with their families. Women prisoners will have better looking and better fitting clothes so as to increase their self-respect. Both io„g and short-term prisoners will be paid wages and given further opportunities of physical training and reading. Recreation would also include cinemas. The programme of reconstruction of obsolete prisons includes the destruction of the famous Pentonville prison. YOUNG WRONGDOERS. Increased Figures May be Misleading. OPEN-AIR PRISONS. Britisli Official Wireless. (Received 9.30 a.m.) RUGBY, July 28. Speaking on the Home Office vote in the House of Commons, the Home Secretary Sir Samuel Hoare, gave an account of the recent reforms in prison administration and of his plans for further measures apart from important legislation which he will introduce in the autumn.

Referring to the figures for juvenile delinquency, from the increase in which over the last few years disquieting deductions are sometimes made, Sir Samuel expressed the opinion that the increase was no more than was accounted for by the operation of the 1932 Young Persons' Act, under which convictions were more willingly recorded.

The Home Secretary forecast important plans for new prison accommodation more suited to modern ideas of penal administration. In particular he expressed the desire to see a new women's prison in place of Holloway Gaol. He said that the new prison would be something entirely different, more in the nature of a camp in the country in which women prisoners would live in small house communities with opportunities for open-air work. Under these plans Pentonville Prison would make way for a much needed housing estate.