§ 36. Mr. ROBERT MORRISONasked the Home Secretary whether he is aware that Marie Dickenson, aged 82, was sentenced at Brixton last week to three months' imprisonment for shoplifting; and whether, in view of her age, he will recommend her discharge on probation, or, alternatively, make arrangements for her period of detention to be served in some place other than a convict prison?
Mr. LOCKER-LAMPSONThis woman was convicted at Lambeth Police Court after very many previous convictions of similar offences. She is serving her sentence at Holloway Prison. My right hon. Friend could not recommend her release on probation. The experiment of merely binding her over has been tried more than once. On one such occasion, in 1919, she was convicted again in less than a month.
§ Mr. MORRISONIs the hon. Gentleman aware that on the same day that this old lady of 82 was sent to prison for three months, at the London Sessions, a wealthy lady 20 years younger was charged on three separate counts with shoplifting and was bound over?