Penal Reform in Britain, Attire and Housing of Convicts

Northern Advocate, 29 July 1938, Page 5

Penal Reform in Britain, Attire and Housing of Convicts

(Received 11.30 a.m.)

LONDON, July 28. gIR SAMUEL HOARE, HOME SECRETARY, IN A SPEECH IN IHE HOUSE OF COMMONS, ANNOUNCED DRASTIC CHANGES TO AMELIORATE THE LOT OF PRISONERS AND KEEP THEM IN CLOSER TOUCH WITH THE OUTSIDE WORLD.

Henceforward they will be allowed to interview friends in their civilian clothes, and mix together on Saturday afternoons in order to break down the evil of too much 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 j as to increase their self-respect. Both long aifd short term prisoners will be paid wages and given further I opportunities of physical training and reading. Recreation will also include cinemas. Reconstruction. The programme of reconstruction of obsolete prisons includes the destruction of the famous Pentonville Prison. Speaking on the Home Office vote in the House of Commons, the Home j 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. Holloway to Go. The Home Secretary forecasted important plans for the new prison accommodation, more suited to modern I ideas of penal administration. He said in particular that he would like to see a new women’s prison to replace Holloway Gaol. He said that the new prison would be something entirely different, more in the nature of a i 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.