§ 29. Mr. Hector Hughesasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what lectures, courses of study and entertainments are provided for the prisoners in Dartmoor prison; what tests were applied as to the progress by the prisoners and how often; and what is done to enable the prisoners to improve and graduate from that prison to more cheerful and hopeful surroundings.
§ Mr. EdeThere are 10 evening classes in various subjects each week, and some 30 men take correspondence courses. A film show is given once a month, and visits by lecturers, concert parties and bands are arranged as often as possible. Tests as to progress are appropriate only to the correspondence courses and normally form part of the course. Men allocated to Dartmoor normally serve the whole of their sentences there.
§ Mr. HughesIs the Home Secretary satisfied that the tests applied give a real 2269 opportunity to men earnestly seeking to get back to good citizenship, and is there an appreciable number of successes?
§ Mr. EdeI am sure everything is done to make these courses as realistic and helpful as possible, but the main scheme has not been running long enough to give a satisfactory answer to the second part of my hon. and learned Friend's supplementary question.
§ Lieut.-Colonel Sir Thomas MooreHas the Home Secretary any other attractions to offer to induce people to break the law?
§ Mr. GallacherIs the Home Secretary aware that, as part of these classes, prisoners are supplied with copy books for writing purposes? Will he see to it that if a prisoner writes an original book, as a result of the classes, he will get it out, and that it will not be kept, as is the case at present?