PRISON REFORM

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 127, 3 June 1929, Page 11

PRISON REFORM

SHORT TfSHWS A !VWS7*itSE

HOME SECRETARY'S ASTJ^ffiK

(From "The Post's" Representation) j LONDON, 19th April.' ' Addressing the annual meeting of tibfij Holloway Discharged Prisoners s'' A*3 Society at the Mansion House, fha Home Secretary (Sir WilHara Joynsosn Hicks) outlined what he would like fef see accomplished in regasd to prison; reform. . '■ . ■ ■.; The main object of prison administea.* tion, he said, was to teach the prisoaena habits of continuous labour and disi ciplined effort, to enable them to be*, come decent citizens of the State. lis this connection there were certain re> forms which, he hoped, .would take place lin the near future. Recently he issued ! a circular to Magistrates pointing out; I the desirability, where possible, of Keeping people out of prison. Yet 2000. ladq and 150 girls under the age of 21'yeaiW were still sent to His Majesty's prison*} every year, most of them with" sboi* •' sentences of a month or less. He was particularly concerned wis!j the administration inside the prison;,' after the Courts had decided to senjl men and women there. One of hig difficulties was the heterogeneous <&e»ii acter of the prison population. In Lon? don some degree of classification ba<i been possible, but in the provinces hardened professional criminals, &s% offenders, people awaiting trial, mei^ committed for arrears of wife mainteiw ance, drunkards, cripples, and the weafe minded were all herded together. Th* success of the administration and elassl* fieation of the Borstal institutions—"tbi most successful institutions of modewj. times"—made him believe it possible for the system to be carried out in prisonst for grown-up people. "I am able now, after a few year^Experience' of this system, to say,' 3* added Sir William, "that it has been a marvellous success in restoring :tftesa; men to decent citizenship." A boy sent to Borstal was, humanly speaking, safe. But if a young fellow "has had one 05 two of these ridiculous sentences of sf week or two, and then gets a bad eraiMw the previous sentence often oanses hsuj . to receive a long-term sentence. ' REFORM, NOT. PUNISHMENT. V "I want to be able to collect all .tties^ - young convieta into separate estabKsUW ments. We have closed a very largai*. number of prisons. One of them imgfrs be re-opened for us to do there as-wg <ire doing at Wakefield. . \ . '...".'. "'' "But I want again to protest against the short sentence; it really makes iti." quite impossible for the woTk". of thel"*" Prison Commissioners to be as.remedial as it ought to be. I agree, it is punisW - ment, but that is not the real obpect on- - prison administration to-day." • - Sentences of penal servitude .niHnjmi* . ed 500 out of 44,000. ; . '' , Of the 7600 women; sentenced in si- : year only 145 received more than siif months. Out of every 100 women,oni^ two had more than six months, .42 pcs ■'. cent, had less than a fortnight, and:SL per cent, leas than a month. .-- -■- Of 35,000. men, 7 per cent, received over six months, 33 per.cent. less, thai* a fortnight, and 59 per cent, less thai* a month. It was absolutely impossibly \ to devise any system of trainingr* .1 [moral, mental, or physical—to ,do anjij --.-.. : good to people sent to prison forr.lesis : I than a month. -■■■ . .- : -../ "I do implore Magistrates, if the,^ feel that a sentence of imprisonment must be imposed—l leave that to thent —to let it be so severe as. ft> give thej. prison authorities a chance of making} it remedial and not merely deterrent* • I know it will make it worse-for thei •' Home Secretary. Pressure'•will ba"'"put on me to let people out*of:. pris&t ' because three months is too long fdjj a particular crime. I'll stand the racket '■'-' of that." ■ ; ■■"■■-• '■■■■-,■■; '■-■■■■-■;-■■ ■■ At Borstal they had "houses," KkS ' the public schools, each with a house* r~' master, who was responsible to &s'" governor for each of the fifty boys'in: ■ i his care—-for knowing the liie-higtoijj l of each lad, his particular temptation^ and the best way to build him np men' tally and morally. . . . "I believe we could introduce thitii' system in our prisons," said Sir Wißiami ..' "I want to make this 'experiment,','is,:"', which I think the Commissioners antf myself have discovered the geim of very great improvement in our pWßaeoS'.' system." ' . ' ' ..".... -.* ;