Appointment Of Prison Pre-release Committee

Press, Volume C, Issue 29672, 16 November 1961, Page 21

Appointment Of Prison Pre-release Committee

(New Zealand Pres, Association)

WELLINGTON, Nov. 15. Mr J. B. Thomson. S.M.. ’of Wellington. would be ’ chairman of the committee t set up under the Penal In- , stitutions Amendment Act, ’ 1961, to make recommendations on the suitability of particular inmates for pre- [ release employment, an- , pounced the Minister of Justice (Mr Hanan) today. The other members of the i committee would be Mr : P. Proctor, of Weddington, and an officer of the Depart- • ment of Justice who would i be appointed from time to : time by the Secretary of Jusi tice (Mr J. L. Robson). Mr Thomson and Mr Proci tor would be appointed for a i term of three years, Mr Hanan said.

The act authorised the re- 1 lease of inmates on daily ’ parole to enable them to 1 work in the community, said i Mr Hanan. All cases would 1 be referred to the committee, ( which would determine the I inmate’s suitability for . parole, the nature of the employment to be undertaken, ' and any special conditions which should be imposed. ’ Mr Thomson had been ap- j pointed a magistrate in 1951, ' said Mr Hanan. Before that. ■ he had practised as a bar- ’ rister and solicitor in Dun- J edin, and had served for a term as president of the 1 Otago District Law Society, • and as a member of the coun- 1 cil of the New Zealand Law Society. Mr Proctor, who is man-

aging-director of Dunlop (New Zealand), Ltd., is a past president of the Wellington Rotary Club, the New Zealand Manufacturers' Association, and the Wellington Manufacturers' Association, and is the chairman of the management committee of the National Society on Alcoholism. He was recently awarded the C.B.E.