the other inmates of a general prison. The handicap of the Wormwood Scrubs system is the presence of men with very short sentences.

A vigorous scheme of training, physical, industrial, mental, and moral, is the rule of both places. The prisoner has an active day of about 15 hours, of which 9 at Wakefield and 8 at Wormwood Scrubs are spent in the industrial shops and working parties. Measures of trust and encouragement of personal responsibility are developed as far as experience shows to be wise, and are changed from time to time as that experience increases. Neither system is perfect; that at Wakefield is hampered by the presence of recidivist prisoners, who are neither to be trusted nor trained to the same extent as the men of better character; and that at Wormwood Scrubs by the presence of a number of short sentenced men who have to be treated as a separate body, in a separate hall, in order that they may not impede the training of the others. Considerations of expense, and other administrative obstacles, prevent the elimination of both disadvantages at either place.

Imperfect as they are, however, each system will, when judged by its results, be found to be an improvement on that of the ordinary general prison. We gave a table of the Wakefield results last year, and a similar table, brought up to date, will be found this year in an extract from the Governor's annual report printed in the appendix. The net result is that out of 628 men discharged from Wakefield since the new system commenced, only 98 or 15'6 per cent. have been reconvicted. These 628 included 334 Star Class, i.e. prisoners of respectable antecedents or convicted for the first time, and out of these 334 only 24 have been reconvicted.

In the case of Wormwood Scrubs we are not yet in a position to give figures, but there is reason to expect that the results will be similar.

During the year under report Ipswich Prison, where the numbers had fallen very low, was closed. The women's wing at Preston was also closed.

Elementary Teaching.-The present position in the local prisons is that 23 officers of the Prison Service are teaching the younger prisoners and illiterates for a few hours each week, but are spending the greater part of their time in the clerical work of the prison, which constitutes their main duty.

The number of paid certificated teachers who take evening classes is 12, employed as follows:-Bedford (1), Birmingham (1), Bristol (2), Durham (1), Holloway (2), Liverpool (2), Manchester (1), Wandsworth (1), and Winchester (1). The Inspectors of the Board of Education visit and report on their work.

The number of volunteers who are most kindly giving their assistance with this elementary teaching is now 58.

The question what length of sentence should qualify prisoners for inclusion in an evening class has been more than once considered, and the advice of the Board of Education's Inspectors has been obtained upon it. At present, generally speaking, a sentence of three months is regarded as the minimum.

Adult Education.-The adult education classes have shown some further development during the year under review. The number of classes held has increased, and they have been attended by some 9,000 individual prisoners. The list of Educational Advisers to the Governors of local prisons will be found as before among the Appendices.

We again record our grateful thanks to the Educational Advisers and to the voluntary teachers who under their direction conduct evening classes at the local prisons. An additional tribute is due to their perseverance. The voluntary worker is occasionally criticised as being liable to weary in his efforts, and to become irregular. Such is not the case with our voluntary teachers, a number of whom have now been teaching steadily and well for over three years; giving up their evenings to the work week after week, with only brief holidays, all the year round.

The third annual meeting of Educational Advisers and teachers at the local prisons was held at the Home Office in January, 1926. There was a practical and useful discussion on the detailed application of the principles for the proper conduct of evening classes, which we mentioned in our last report; and stress was laid on the value of co-operation between teachers, prison visitors, and prison officers.

Visitors. At the local prisons the number of prison visitors is now 578-465 men and 113 women. The value of the visitors' work increases with the development of the system whereby the visitors either serve on the Committee of the Aid Society, or, where they do not, make a report and recommendation to that Committee about each prisoner who has been under their care.

The usual annual meetings of both Visitors' Associations, that of the visitors to men prisoners, and that of the visitors to women prisoners, took place at the Home Office in May, 1925.

General treatment.-The gradual introduction of the new patterns of clothing, cell furniture, equipment and eating utensils, continues as funds allow. The new clothing for men prisoners is now in use at 17 prisons, and the new cell equipment in whole or in part at 8. At 5 prisons aluminium eating utensils have replaced the old tins.

A new pattern of clothing for women prisoners has been adopted; to be introduced, like that of the men, as replacements become necessary.

Associated dinner for star and second division prisoners is now the general rule in the local prisons. The beneficial effect on self-respect, manners, and conversation, previously noted, has been maintained. An individual prisoner of this class occasionally prefers to take his dinner alone in his cell; and when such a wish is expressed, it is granted.

VIII. BORSTAL INSTITUTIONS.

Our general remarks on the developments in the organization and methods of the Institutions will be found in the last three Annual Reports. The Borstal system is, moreover, one of the subjects now under the consideration of the Young Offenders' Committee. We therefore give no general review this year. The numbers committed during the year 1925-26 were 535 lads and 25 girls, as compared with 504 lads and 34 girls in 1924-25. One hundred and twenty-seven of the lads and 8 of the girls had been dealt with under Section 10 of the Criminal Justice Administration Act, 1914.

The committals show a gradual tendency to rise, and it has been necessary to take steps for the establishment of a fifth house at Portland, where only last year we reported the establishment of a fourth, in order to cope with the increasing numbers, and to prevent the loss of that individual attention and personal knowledge of the inmate by his officers, on which his training depends. Fortunately Portland, with its considerable scope for industrial and labouring work, is able to find sufficient employment for the newcomers. This, however, is only a temporary expedient, and a new Institution is needed.

The industrial work has again been improved, especially in the wood and metal working shops, and a system of measuring individual output on modern industrial lines, in order to promote speed and efficiency, has been introduced as an experiment at one Institution.

The number of lads at Borstal who go out in the evening to the Municipal Technical School has been increased from 10 to

24.

Success continues to attend the wearing of plain clothes by the staff, and no disadvantage has ensued.

Camps. The number who went to camp in the summer of 1925 was 82 from Borstal, 105 from Feltham, 131 from Portland, and 14 girls from Aylesbury. These numbers represent the Special Grade at each Institution, all of whom are sent to camp if funds allow. The camps were successful and well conducted as before, and the cost for the total number of 318 lads was £374 4s. 2d. The money for both the lads' and the girls' camps was privately subscribed, as on previous occasions, by generous friends, to whom we give our sincere thanks.

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IX. CONVICT PRISONS AND PREVENTIVE DETENTION.

Convict Prisons.-The number of penal servitude sentences was 471, as against 480 in 1924-25, and the daily average population of the convict prisons decreased from 1,478 in 1924-25 to 1,399 in the year under review.

A small party of long-sentenced convicts from Maidstone were sent, for the second year in succession, for six weeks to Camp Hill to work in the open air. The employment at Maidstone is almost entirely in industrial shops, and it has long been felt that in the case of men with 10 or 15 years to serve some occasional change is required to prevent mental and physical deterioration. The men's treatment at Camp Hill was the same as at Maidstone and their work (clearing the forest) was harder; but the beneficial effect of this short spell of outdoor employment was marked, in the opinion of both medical and administrative authorities.

Preventive Detention.-The number of men sentenced to preventive detention in 1925-26 was 22, and the daily average at Camp Hill was 147. Besides the men at Camp Hill, there was also a daily average of 6 men with sentences of preventive detention in the hospital at Parkhurst Convict Prison. The average number of women under preventive detention was 9. These women serve their sentences at present at Liverpool. The question what is the best establishment in which to place this little group of women who are undergoing sentences of preventive detention has been discussed more than once. A separate establishment for so few would be much too costly. On the other hand, there are certain drawbacks in locating them in any one of the existing prisons. The matter is still under consideration.

The new regulations for the conduct of the preventive detention system at Camp Hill, which provide for a longer period to be spent in the prison before the grant of a licence, have so far worked smoothly.

X.-AID ON DISCHARGE.

(1) Local. The reports of the Prisoners' Aid Societies at the local prisons show that, out of 40,568 convicted men who were discharged from prison after serving sentences in the calendar year 1925, 22,767, or 56 per cent., were assisted. Of the latter, 6,799, or 30 per cent., were suitably placed. Out of 7,985 women discharged, 4,807, or 60 per cent., were assisted; and of those assisted 1,070, or 22 per cent., were placed in work, while 2,651, or 33 per cent., were sent either to relations or to friends or Homes. One or two of the Societies did not give us all the information for which we asked, so that these figures may not be exactly accurate. The error, however, if any, is small.

Young Prisoners.-1,839 lads were discharged during the year, and of those 925 were placed in work. At the end of the year, 98, or about 5 per cent., had been reconvicted. Three Societies

have furnished information showing the present position of the boys discharged in 1924. These three returns show that, out of 378 dealt with by those Societies in that year, 170, or 45 per cent., were still satisfactory at the end of 1925, 68 have been lost sight of, while 66, or 17 per cent., had been reconvicted.

The following is a summary of the returns from the five Collecting Centres for Young Prisoners :—

*The figures for Wandsworth include boys whose sentence was under three months.

The Treasury renewed the special grant of £1,000 for the third year in succession, and the money was carefully distributed by us, as before, after consultation with the representatives of the Central Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society. This special grant has had a good effect, both in enabling fairly substantial assistance to be given in special circumstances, as for example to a newlyfounded Society; and also as an encouragement to the Societies generally, who look upon it as a recognition of their work by the Government.

The total amount collected by all the local prison Societies again showed a small improvement, being £12,056, as compared with £11,940 in the preceding year; but is still quite insufficient for the needs of the work, and we hope that no Society will fail to take the necessary steps to make those needs public. Experience shows that even in these days the money for prisoners' aid work can be found.

(2) Borstal Association.-Five hundred and sixty-seven lads and 56 girls were discharged during the year from Borstal Institutions to the care of the Association. Four hundred and sixtytwo of the lads and 32 of the girls were so discharged for the first time; the remainder either had had their licence revoked or had. incurred a second period of Borstal detention.

On the 31st March, 1926, 347 of the lads and 30 of the girls had been at liberty for at least three months. By that time the Association had seen 322 of the lads and 24 of the girls established in work. The Association had itself found work for 186 of the lads and for the 24 girls, while 136 lads had found their own work.

In addition to these, at the end of the year under review the Association still had under its supervision more than 500 lads and girls released during previous years.

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