§ 75. Mr. W. J. Brownasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he can make any statement in regard to the assaults and other acts of indiscipline which have recently taken place at His Majesty's Borstal Institution at Feltham; and what steps he proposes to take to ensure that the state of discipline in this establishment is improved.
§ Mr. H. MorrisonIt has been necessary during the war for the establishment at Feltham to serve several purposes, including those of a Borstal institution for subnormal youths, a collecting and classifying centre for youths sentenced to Borstal detention all over the country, and a prison for young men under 21 of the London area. This mixed, unstable, and largely transitory population presents special problems from the point of view of discipline, and the difficulties have been increased by reductions in staff made necessary by the war. Nevertheless the Prison Commissioners are satisfied that the state of discipline and control is as good as can be expected in the circumstances. There has, during 1944, been only one instance of concerted indiscipline, and though there were unfortunately nine assaults on officers, seven of these were in connection with attempts to escape, and in only two were the officers injured. The Commissioners will, so soon as circumstances permit, consider 367 whether better arrangements can be made for accommodating some of the classes of young men now at Feltham, but it is unlikely that any change can be made during the war. In the meantime, four additional officers have been posted to the staff.