§ 17. Mr. Greyasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of prisoners has earned the maximum remission of sentence at Durham Gaol in the last five years; and how this percentage compares with the figures for the average of prisons of similar type.
§ Mr. RentonI regret that the information is not available.
§ Mr. GreyMay I ask the Under- Secretary if he is aware that in answer to a Question last week embodying the same principle, he stated:
The rules relating to discipline are the same in all prisons, and I have no reason to suppose that there is any significant difference 508 in their application between Durham and other local prisons."—[OFFICIAL REPORT. 4th December, 1958; Vol. 596, c. 160.]May I ask the hon. and learned Gentleman how he squares that with a statement made by a learned judge at Durham Quarter Sessions, who was quoted in the Newcastle Journal on 27th November as follows:Judge Cohen said at Durham Quarter Sessions that Durham was a paradise compared with other prisons …Judge Cohen told two Sunderland youths who waited four months in the gaol for trial 'Four months is nothing… You don't know what prison is really like. You were not subjected to the same sort of strict discipline and severe handling as other prisoners.'A Seaham youth who had asked to be gaoled, was told by the Judge: 'They are too kind to them in Durham'.May the House be assured that these statements are no slur on the governor of the prison, and may we also be assured that the judge in question will be informed that on such matters it is his job to sentence prisoners and not to make criticisms of discipline inside prisons?
§ Mr. RentonAs I understand the matter, the learned judge cast no reflection upon the way in which Durham Prison was run. What he was anxious to do was to point out to these young men, who were before him for sentence, that the way in which they would be treated when they were prisoners serving their sentences would not necessarily be quite as happy as the way in which they had been treated as prisoners awaiting trial, because it is a well-known fact that until a prisoner has been sentenced he is given various privileges which he does not have later.