HC Deb 26 July 1951 vol 491 cc640-3

At the end of Questions:

Mr. Ede

I should now like to answer Questions Nos. 17 and 21, Sir.

I am grateful to the Committee for their careful and painstaking inquiry, and I have felt able to accept the great majority of their recommendations. Some of the changes proposed have already been put into effect; others will require alterations in the Prison and Borstal rules relating to England and Wales and amending rules will be laid before Parliament in due course.

It is not possible, within the compass of a reply to a Parliamentary Question, to detail all the measures taken or proposed to be taken in the light of the Committee's Report, but the House may be interested to be informed of my decision on some of the important questions dealt with in the Report.

As regards prisons, the Committee reached the conclusion that prisoners charged with offences against prison discipline should not be allowed legal or other representation at the hearing before a visiting committee (or board of visitors). The Committee, however, made various recommendations about the procedure to be followed by visiting committees when dealing with prison offences.

I accept these recommendations and have decided that the procedure should be brought more nearly into line with that followed by courts of summary jurisdiction, and that the prison rules should be amended so as to provide that not less than two and not more than five members of the visiting committee should adjudicate on any case brought before the committee.

I also accept the Departmental Committee's proposal that restricted diet No. 2 should be replaced by another form of punitive diet and a new diet is being devised by my medical advisers. I accept in principle the Committee's proposal that a special prison should be set aside for prisoners who persistently misbehave and defy authority, but in view of the difficulties of accommodation I see no early prospect of implementing this recommendation.

As regards Borstal institutions, I have taken note of the Committee's view that discipline needs tightening and I have asked the Prison Commissioners to bring to the notice of governors the comments made by the Committee on the importance of good appearance and good manners as an element in training. I accept the proposal that in future only the board of visitors should have power to deal with absconding and certain serious offences against discipline, and I also agree that the procedure at adjudications should be altered in much the same way as at prisons.

The Committee's recommendation for a special institution for boys who by persistent misconduct interfere with the training of others has been substantially met by the Borstal institution set up in the former prison at Hull.

As regards dietary punishment in Borstal institutions, which was suspended in July, 1948, on my instructions, for an experimental period, the Committee recommend that Borstal governors and boards of visitors should have restored to them the power to impose for limited periods restricted diet No. 1—that is, a bread and water diet.

I accept this recommendation, but I propose to qualify the exercise of this power of punishment by advising governors and boards of visitors that it should be used only as a last resort when other forms of punishment have failed or in exceptional cases of serious misconduct where no other form of punishment is deemed appropriate.

Surgeon Lieut.-Commander Bennett

Can the Home Secretary say whether he has taken any note of the Committee's recommendation about special establishments for the mentally abnormal?

Mr. Ede

I considered that, but in view of present accommodation difficulties the recommendations cannot be implemented. I hope that when the accommodation situation becomes easier the matter will receive attention.

Mr. Boothby

Can the Home Secretary say whether the recommendations he has accepted will also be applied in Scotland? If not, will he bring these matters to the notice of the Secretary of State for Scotland?

Mr. Ede

I have no jurisdiction, of course, over Scottish prisons but I have no doubt that the Report has been read in the Scottish Office and I will draw my right hon. Friend's attention to the hon. Member's question.

Mr. J. Johnson

While thanking my right hon. Friend for his answer and appreciating its length, may I ask if he will find time for the House to debate this important question before the end of the Session?

Mr. Ede

I do not see any chance of a debate this side of the Recess.

Mr. J. H. Hare

As part of the process of tightening up discipline in Borstals, would the right hon. Gentleman say whether he is prepared to give a ruling that in a Borstal without walls, such as Hollesley in my constituency, where boys repeatedly escape they should not be returned to the same institution but should be sent back to an institution with walls?

Mr. Ede

The problem of the persistent absconder from a particular institution merits special attention. Efforts should be made to place him elsewhere; and in the original drafting of lads to an institution regard should be had to their suitability for the type of institution to which they are being sent.

Mr. S. Silverman

Will my right hon. Friend reconsider his decision about the legal representation of prisoners who are charged with prison offences before visiting magistrates? In that connection, will he bear in mind that when the House abolished corporal punishment generally it retained it for offences against discipline committed in prison? Where there is power to inflict a greater penalty than has the outside court, is it not quite wrong that the accused person should not have the advantage of legal representation?

Mr. Ede

I think we should try the effect of the alteration I have made as a result of the Committee's recommendations. I would remind my hon. Friend and the House that every case of corporal punishment awarded by a visiting committee has to come to me for my personal confirmation. The papers go through my hands and I consider all the circumstances of the case. Since coming into office I have insisted on having in front of me all the evidence given before the visiting committee.

Mr. Osborne

The right hon. Gentleman said that dietary punishment would be re-imposed for a limited period if necessary. How long is the period?

Mr. Ede

The limited period is the period for which this punishment can be awarded to a particular offender.

Mr. Osborne

Yes, but for how long?