§ 10. Mrs. L. Jegerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is now the average time between the sentencing of a boy to Borstal and his arrival at a Borstal institution.
§ Mr. R. A. ButlerThe average time between sentence and transfer to a training Borstal is about 10 weeks for boys sentenced in the London area and about 15 weeks for others. London boys spend all of this time, and other boys a period up to 5 weeks in a Borstal reception centre.
§ Mrs. JegerWould not the Home Secretary agree that this long period in prison vitiates the constructive help that boys may expect to get if they could be transferred more quickly to a Borstal centre? What plans has the right hon. Gentleman for reducing this long wait?
§ Mr. ButlerThe real difficulty is the increase in Borstal commitals. For example, in the second quarter of 1958 there were 824 boys so sentenced against a figure of 528 in the corresponding quarter in 1957. The hon. Lady asks what we are doing. We have already had to transform four prisons into training Borstals to try to meet this extra need, so that the House can appreciate that it is a difficult situation.