§ 8. Mr. T. WILLIAMS (for Mr. T. SMITH)asked the Home Secretary 1082 whether an official decision has yet been reached with regard to building a new Borstal institution near the Wash, in Lincolnshire; if so, what is the estimated cost during the next five years; and whether he is aware that there are many prison workshops in empty and unoccupied prisons with equipment rusting away for want of use?
§ Sir J. GILMOURIn view of the increase in the number of youths sentenced to Borstal detention, it has been necessary to open a new training institution in Lincolnshire. The inmates will be employed in reclaiming an area of the out-marsh on the north-west coast of the Wash, and will be accommodated in a hutted camp. It is estimated that the total capital expenditure will not exceed £23,500. One of the features of Borstal training is the provision of healthy outdoor work, for which none of the unoccupied prisons offers any facilities. The suggestion that industrial equipment has been left to rust away in any of the unoccupied prisons is mistaken.