OLDER PRISONS SCRAPPED

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22593, 24 December 1938, Page 15

OLDER PRISONS SCRAPPED

Reform in Britain ALTERATIONS TO NEWER BUILDINGS (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON, December 5. Britain’s older prisons are being scrapped, and its more modern ones substantially altered under a scheme of reforms being put into operation by the Commissonors of Prisons, whose report for 1937 is published.

“For many years the commissioners have drawn attention to the unsuitability of many of our prisons for the development of reforms on modern lines,” states the report. “Within the limits of the funds at their disposal they have carried out a continuous policy of alteration and adaptation of their old buildings, and when space allowed, workshops, gymnasia, classrooms, and other necessities of_the modern prison have been provided. “The commissioners have seized every opportunity offered of acquiring land next to existing prisons either for cultivation or to enable much needed extensions to be made. But this is not everywhere possible, since many prisons, though originally built on the outskirts of large towns, have long since been engulfed by the rising tide of suburban development. Whatever may be done, the old prisons will always represent a monument to the ideas of repression and uniformity which dominated penal theory in the nineteenth century, , rather than a medium for the ideas of training and reformation which have for many years been the guiding principles of English prison administration.” Colonies for women and girls from Holloway will be built in the country near London, taking into account the experience gained at Borstal institutions and the Wakefield Camp as well as of recent American experience in planning women’s establishments. Inmates will be housed in small groups in pavilions or houses, allowing greater individualisation. Ignorance of Borstal Lads

Instances of incredible ignorance on the part of boys in the Feltham Borstal Institution are mentioned. The governor refers to “the abysmal depth of ignorance from which seven or eight years of Slate education has failed to rescue many of the lads there, or to which they have reverted after two or three years of complete mental vacuity. The ignorance would be inconceivable and probably incredible to anyone not in touch with the problem.” The governor adds; “Some cannot tell the time at all, or are very uncertain about anything except the hours. Many are unable to name more than two or three months in the year, and even boggle at the seasons. “The experienced house officer knows that his duties at Feltham may include the instruction of lads of 17 or 18 in the use of a knife, fork and spoon, the place of soap and comb in personal comfort and hygiene, the convention of removing most of the outer clothing before going to bed. “The practice, obviously rooted in custom since infancy, of saving trouble and time in the morning by removing as little clothing as possible at night is the most baffling and persistent of all, because it is so general. “If a housemaster does not regularly supervise his dormitories and rooms a sudden raid will always produce one or two lads in bed, fully dressed to their boots, several in shirts and trousers, and a majority in vest and stockings.” The governor adds that the great difficulty is with mental observation cases. When detected in wrong-doing these blandly say that they are not responsible for their actions, adding: “I’m a bit funny.” The governor of Aylesbury Borstal Institution points out that nearly all the girls have been absconders from their schools, and talk of absconding has greatly increased with the rising numbers at the institution. “As the arrangement is usually an open secret,” says the governor, "the officers, on the morning of the advertised attempt, bid a solemn good-bye to the would-be absconder. The effect is to cause an indefinite postponement in most cases.” During the year 1053 lads and 62 girls were committed to Borstal detention. including 178 lads and five girls in the age group of 21 to 23.