§ 25. Mr. HALL-CAINEasked the Home Secretary to what extent the police authorities are instructed or authorised to watch those who have been in convict prisons and to warn their employers; and whether he is aware that this system reacts prejudicially on the prospects of those men obtaining permanent employment?
§ Sir J. SIMONThere is no foundation for the suggestion that it is the practice of the police to warn employers or to do anything which hinders ex-convicts from following honest employment. An exceptional case might arise where a man who has been an adept in a particular type of crime is told that while on licence he must not take employment of a kind which provides special opportunities for such crime, and if he disregards such instruction, it might be the duty of the police to warn the employer. But the general principle on which the police act is that if an ex-convict is trying to follow honest employment, nothing what-even is to be done which is likely to prejudice his efforts, but on the contrary he should so far as possible he helped.