HC Deb 26 April 1956 vol 551 c1953
16. Lieut.-Colonel Lipton

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many unconvicted persons are at present detained in Borstal institutions.

Major Lloyd-George

If the hon. and gallant Member's Question refers to those persons at present detained in Borstal institutions who are undergoing Borstal training without having been convicted of any criminal offence, the answer is three.

Lieut.-Colonel Lipton

Is it not a very deplorable state of affairs that there should be even three young people in Borstal who have not been convicted of or sentenced on any charge at all? How does it come about that unconvicted persons are in Borstal?

Major Lloyd-George

It may be deplorable, but it happens to be the law. Those three young girls were sent to an approved school as the result of a probation order. They absconded from the approved school and, under the Act of 1948, were put into Borstal.

Hon. Members

The Act of 1948.

Lieut.-Colonel Lipton

They still have not broken the law.