The following table showing the principal offences for which prisoners were received on conviction compares the figures for the year under report with those of former years :

Twenty-three thousand seven hundred and eighty-six out of 37,237 men received on conviction during the year, and 7,000 out of 8,012 women, had been previously convicted*; or 64 per cent. of the receptions of men, and 87 per cent. of those of women. Thirteen thousand four hundred and fifty-one of the men, and 1,012 of the women, or 36 per cent, and 13 per cent. respectively, are believed not to have been previously convicted. Of the number who had incurred previous convictions :

13,558 men and 2,246 women had been previously convicted 1 to 5 times.

4,136 men and 855 women had been previously convicted 6 to 10 times.

3,147 men and 921 women had been previously convicted 11 to 20 times.

2,945 men and 2,978 women had been previously convicted over 20 times.

There were 10,228 men and 4,754 women who had incurred six or more previous convictions, whereas in 1913-14 there were over 28,000 men and 15,000 women who had done so.

One thousand one hundred and thirty-one of the men had previously been sentenced to penal servitude, and 38 of the women. Eight hundred and eleven out of the 1,131 men fell into the age groups of 40 and over, and 31 of the women.

* Charges dealt with under the Probation Act, 1907, are not included among the previous convictions.

The number of lads received into prison on conviction between the ages of 16 and 21 (exclusive of Borstal cases), numbered 2,464 as against 2,064 last year. An analysis of the information about them is as follows:

Lads.

Ages:-16, 122; 17, 300; 18, 534; 19, 716; 20, 792.
Previous Convictions*:

*These figures do not include charges dealt with under Section 1 of the Probation Act, 1907, and, no doubt, many of those shown as "not previously convicted" have been previously dealt with under that Section.

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Of the 2,464 lads, 577 were committed in default of fine, 1,364 were sentenced to a month or less, of whom 463, were committed in default of fines.

Girls.

There were 178 receptions under sentence of imprisonment, as compared with 199 the previous year. Their ages were as follows:

16, 6; 17, 20; 18, 33; 19, 52; 20, 67.

Previous Convictions* :

* These figures do not include charges dealt with under Section 1 of the Probation Act, 1907, and, no doubt, many of those shown as "not previously convicted" have been previously dealt with under that Section.

The following table, which excludes persons sentenced to Borstal detention, shows during recent years the total numbers of lads and girls between the ages of 16 and 21 received into prison on conviction.

The number of young prisoners under 16 who were received into prison, under the special provisions of Sections 97 and 102 of the Children Act, (i.e., with the certificate of the Court that a young person is of so unruly a character that he cannot safely be sent to a place of detention, or that he is so depraved that he is unfit to be so detained) was 17; 16 boys and 1 girl. One of the boys was received under a sentence of imprisonment.

As will be seen from the table on page 4, the number of lads committed to Borstal Detention has been steadily increasing during the last four years. During the year 1926 the daily average number of Borstal inmates, including the lads in the Reception Class at Wandsworth, and those recalled on revocation of licence to the Borstal block at Wormwood Scrubs, was as follows:

The numbers at Feltham, Borstal and Portland are so large that it is very difficult for the Governor and Housemasters to maintain the personal touch with each lad which is essential to Borstal training. In addition there is difficulty in finding suitable occupation for all the lads, particularly at Feltham. We mentioned in our last Report that a new Borstal Institution was needed. This need has now become acute. A large part of the success of the Borstal system has been due to the individual

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attention given to the lads by the heads of the Institutions, to the corporate spirit created in each Institution, and to the arrangements for active and interesting employment. All these methods become less effective if the numbers are too large.

VII.-BUILDINGS.

The provision of additional quarters for officers was continued during the year. At Manchester 20 more quarters were built. Owing to the distance of the site from the prison, this work had to be carried out by free labour, but at other establishments, namely, Durham, Feltham, Nottingham, Leeds, Norwich, Winchester and Wandsworth, prison labour has been employed. At Holloway the new quarters for nurses were completed.

At Portland good progress was made with an important scheme for converting into self-contained Borstal houses the blocks of cells built for convict purposes. These blocks consist of five tiers of cells on either side of a wide corridor. The Surveyor has devised a plan by which a floor is thrown across the corridor of the second gallery; the three upper tiers are left for use as sleeping rooms; and the two lower tiers are converted into rooms which can be used for association purposes, such as dining halls, classrooms, etc., etc. As the new floor cuts off the roof light, the lighting for these rooms must be provided by windows in the side walls, and it was a difficult problem to cut away sufficient corridor and cell division walls to form large, high, and properly lighted and ventilated rooms without disturbing the structure supporting the three upper tiers of cells and the large and heavy roof. The work has been carried out by Borstal lads, supervised by three or four tradesmen, and it was accordingly necessary that the design should provide for simple forms of construction with ordinary building materials. By the end of December the structural work of one half of the block first chosen for conversion was completed, and a good deal of the preliminary work on the second half of the block had also been done. The work done proves that structurally the scheme is sound, and that it can be carried out by the labour of the lads. It is also evident that self-contained Houses on this plan will be successful from an administrative and institutional point of view.

The reconstruction necessitates an entirely new system of heating and ventilation, and the new heating system has been installed by the lads with the pipes and fittings removed from the old system.

At Manchester Prison the large central heating scheme was completed and the work on the new kitchen and bakery was continued.

At Gloucester progress was made with the scheme for providing a new kitchen and laundry, and the majority of the prisoners were occupied on this work throughout the year.

At numerous other prisons considerable work was done in the way of providing additional workrooms and storage accommodation.