The great majority of those discharged on licence during the year 1925-26 were satisfactory at its conclusion. These, however, had been at liberty too short a time to justify the Association in basing any confident prediction on that fact. A better test is afforded by an examination of the position at the end of two years from the date of discharge. These two years represent the normal period during which a lad or girl is on licence. During the year 1923, 519 lads and 96 girls were discharged. At the end of two years of liberty 178 lads and 26 girls had been reconvicted, leaving over 65 per cent. of the lads and 73 per cent. of the girls who had not again come in conflict with the law. An interesting sidelight is thrown upon the influence of home Number with only one parent living, lads 154, girls 10. Number with parents separated, lads 34, girls 3. Illegitimate, lads 23, girls 4. Some of the individuals concerned have to be reckoned in more than one of these categories, but out of the total of 494 firsttime discharges of lads and girls only 166 had what could be called a normal home. Twenty-eight, moreover, had serious physical defects, 84 had serious mental defects, while 3 had both. In 51 cases there was a family history of insanity or mental defect. The difficulty of finding regular work for all these, in the face of keen competition and amid unprecedented unemployment, needs no description; and the considerable measure of success achieved is a remarkable testimony to the courage and perseverance of the Associates of the Borstal Association in all parts of the country. (3) Central Association for the Aid of Discharged Convicts.Five hundred and fifty-six men were discharged from penal servitude during the year under review to the care of the Central Association. Work was found by the Association for 190, in addition substantial assistance was given in other ways to 272, and limited assistance in 43 cases where previous experience did not warrant more generous treatment. Forty-seven did not require assistance, and 9 were physically or mentally incapable of responding to any efforts on their behalf. Twenty-one women were discharged; work was found for 5, other assistance was given to 13, and 3 required no help. Out of a total of 577 men and women convicts, 374 were recidivists. Twenty-three men were discharged from H.M. Preventive Detention Prison, Camp Hill, during the year ended the 31st March, 1926; 9 of them on licence, one on remission of sentence, and 13 on expiration of sentence. Of the 9 men discharged on licence, 2 had by the end of March, 1926, been reported as unsatisfactory, and 1 had been reconvicted. The man discharged on remission of sentence had been reconvicted; while of the 13 discharged on expiration of sentence 7 had been reconvicted. XI. INDUSTRIAL. This industrial section applies to the whole of the establishments under the control of the Commissioners. The better class industries showed a certain development during 1925-26. More prisoners were employed at them, especially at the wood and metal working industries; and the value of their labour was greater. On the other hand, the orders for Post Office mailbags, the making and repairing of which have for many years been the stock occupation of short sentenced prisoners, have shown a tendency to decline; and this, if continued, will make it necessary to find other employment for the short sentenced men. More orders for baskets and brushes could have been undertaken if workshop accommodation had been available. New workshops are contemplated or are in course of erection at several prisons, and there is a prospect of extending these industries. Weaving at Wakefield has progressed satisfactorily, although output has had to be restricted owing to the large stocks of textile materials held in store. There has been a marked improvement in the quality of the warps and wefts received from contractors since the introduction of the system of inspection and testing by the Manchester Testing House. The increased value of the products of the carpenters, smiths, and fitters is largely due to the increased output of the Borstal shops. A good deal of work in these shops has been experimental. Last year they made a net loss. In the year under review, although some of the orders were carried out at a loss to the Department, either for purposes of experiment or for the proper training of the inmates, the profit on the remainder was sufficiently large to show a net profit on the whole. The total figures of labour in all establishments were as follows: : Out of a daily average population of 10,509, 1,129, or nearly 11 per cent., were unemployed for the following reasons: The daily average of prisoners and inmates at work was 9,380. The aggregate value of the labour of these, who were almost all unskilled in trades, was £377,338. This figure, which includes an allowance for the value of domestic services in the prisons and institutions, is equal to £40 4s. 7d. per head of the 9,380 prisoners and inmates employed. It shows a slight improvement on the corresponding figure for last year, which was £39 14s. 4d. XII.-PUNISHMENTS. The percentage of prisoners in local prisons who were punished for prison offences was 3'8, as compared with 37 last year, and 12.8 in 1913-14. The percentage of those who were punished for idleness was 0.7, the actual figure being 523. The percentage last year was 0.5 and in 1913-14 it was 12.3. were 6 corporal punishments in local prisons, as compared with 5 in the previous year. The following table gives the corporal punishments in local prisons since the beginning of the century. There The punishments in convict prisons have been as follows: There were two cases of corporal punishment in convict prisons in 1925-26. Corporal punishments in convict prisons from the beginning of the present century are given below : There was also one case of corporal punishment at the Preventive Detention Prison at Camp Hill. The general state of discipline in the prisons is good, and we have nothing to add this year to the remarks which we have made on this subject in our last two reports. XIII. MEDICAL. In the local prisons there were 22 deaths from natural causes (21 men and 1 woman). This figure includes deaths which occurred in general hospitals to which the prisoners had been removed during the currency of their sentences. The death rate from natural causes was thus 2.8 per thousand of the daily average population, as compared with 3-8 last year. In addition to deaths. from natural causes there were 24 executions (all men) and 3 suicides. There was also 1 death from the effects of an attempted suicide before committal. In the Convict and Preventive Detention Prisons 10 men died from natural causes. The death rate was 64 per thousand, as compared with 37 in the year 1924-25. In the Borstal Institute 3 lads died, one of them as the result of an accident in the Institution. In the local prisons 98 prisoners undergoing sentences were certified insane (84 men and 14 women), as compared with 84 men and 13 women in 1924-25. In addition to these, 192 men and 38 women were found by the prison Medical Officers to be insane while on remand or awaiting trial; 14 men and 5 women. were found by Juries to be insane on arraignment and 27 men and 9 women were found "Guilty but Insane.' ,, One thousand five hundred and ninety-five men and 690 women were remanded to prison for mental observation and report. The mental defectives who were certified as such while undergoing sentences numbered 44 men and 6 women, and 34 men and 4 women were removed to Institutions under orders of the Secretary of State. Twenty-six men and 9 women were handed over to the care of local authorities because their sentences had expired before action could be taken under Section 9 of the Mental Deficiency Act. At the Convict and Preventive Detentive Prisons 8 men were certified insane, as compared with 15 men last year; and 2 men were certified to be mental defectives. One man was released on medical grounds. In the Borstal Institutions one lad was certified insane. The separate report by our medical colleague is printed as an Appendix. It draws attention to the need for medical examination in doubtful cases before the decision of the Court is formed. The Appendices also contain some interesting remarks by Medical Officers in charge of prisons which have been made collecting centres for weak-minded prisoners. These Medical Officers, while confirming our general opinion that the environment of a prison is unsuitable for such cases, are not unanimous as to the best method of treatment under the law as it now stands. There is an interesting divergence of opinion as to the extent to which discipline and treatment, applicable to persons of normal mentality, may or may not be beneficial to those who are only slightly sub-normal. This is a question which has also arisen in connection with certain inmates of Borstal Institutions, and further observation may be expected to throw more light upon it. The simple handicrafts which prove so valuable in these cases have been taught in several places by the workers of the Brabazon Society, to whom we give our best thanks. XIV.-BUILDINGS. The provision of additional quarters for Officers was continued in 1925-26. The scheme for the provision of 250 quarters at various prisons, sanctioned by the Treasury in 1920-21, was completed at the end of 1925-26. Quarters under this scheme were provided at no less than 23 separate establishments. The estimated cost of this scheme, as sanctioned, was £220,000; but the actual cost of the 250 houses was only £205,200. This large saving was partly due to the fall in the prices of building materials since 1920; but a good deal of it was achieved by the employment of prison labour to the greatest possible extent, at the cost of rather slower progress. Progress was also made with the further scheme for providing 150 more quarters, which was sanctioned in 1924; and houses under this scheme are being built at Durham, Leeds, Norwich, Nottingham, Winchester and Wandsworth. |