§ 1 and 9. Mr. Ellis Smithasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how often, and for what reasons, Miss Georgina Heath was in hospital before July, 1962; why she was retained in prison between 11th and 24th August, 1962; why, after having been sentenced to borstal training, she was retained in Strangeways Prison, Manchester, until 9th November and treated like an adult offender; for how long she was retained there before being sent for borstal training; why she was treated there as an adult offender on visiting days; and what compensation he proposes to offer to Miss Heath and to her visitors for the treatment they were accorded at Strangeways Prison;
§ (2) if the court which sentenced Miss Georgina Heath had before it information concerning her previous medical history whether her retention in Strangeways Prison before being removed to a borstal institution will be taken into account in deciding how long she will remain in the borstal institution; what action is being taken to ensure that other young persons are not similarly detained before being ordered to undergo special borstal training; and if he will arrange for sympathetic treatment for Miss Heath, to assist in preventing her from taking in future the action for which she was convicted.
§ The Joint Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Charles Fletcher-Cooke)Georgina Heath spent three short periods in hospital before July, 1962, for observation of her mental state. She was detained in prison on remand between 11th and 24th August and again on committal after conviction between 24th August and 24th September when 638 she was sentenced to borstal training. The sentencing court had information about her previous medical history. After being sentenced to borstal training she was detained in the female wing at Manchester Prison until 9th November awaiting a vacancy at a training borstal.
In this wing as far as possible girls are kept apart from older women and opportunities for communication are infrequent. She asked for and was allowed one visit during this period in Manchester. When remand centres become available there will be no need to detain persons in her situation in prison. The time she spent in prison after sentence may be taken into account in deciding how long she will remain in borstal. Her training will endeavour to establish in her the will and capacity to lead a good and useful life on release and to abstain from further offences. No question of compensation arises in this case.
§ Mr. Ellis SmithWill the Minister bear in mind that I appreciate that sympathetic reply by the Home Office in London? Will he further bear in mind that I am not attempting to interfere in any way in the function of the judiciary, nor am I condoning what the girl has done wrong? Does he agree with me, however, that her legal detention in Strangeways is a scandalous state of affairs? It is concrete evidence of the need to deal with this kind of case in a far more modern way. In view of what the girl has suffered up to now, will the hon. and learned Gentleman undertake to give his personal attention to seeing that she gets sympathetic treatment and consideration as soon as possible?
§ Mr. Fletcher-CookeI am much obliged by what the hon. Member said at the beginning of his supplementary question. Of course, my right hon. Friend dislikes keeping in prison girls or boys awaiting borstal, even though they are separate from the adult offenders. The remand centres are the answer to this problem and they are coming forward. The first for girls will, we hope, be ready in the early part of 1964, and there will be others ready later that year and 1965.
§ Miss BaconFollowing the hon. and learned Gentleman's Answer, is he aware that the Criminal Justice Act, 1948. which was passed 15 years ago, envisaged 639 remand centres but that only one has so far been opened? When is the one at Risley, in Lancashire, which has been on the cards for so long, to be opened? Secondly, can the hon. and learned Gentleman say when the girls will be moved from the borstals which are attached to prisons and when the new borstal in the north of England will be opened?
§ Mr. Fletcher-CookeIn reply to the first part of that question, the three remand centres concerned—Risley, Hewell Grange and Pucklechurch—will be opening in 1964. As to borstals for girls, this girl is at Bulwood, in Essex, which is one of the newest and best. All that can be done for her is being done. Of course, we need more of these institutions. I could not give an off-the-cuff answer to the third part of the hon. Lady's question, but the new borstals are coming forward much more rapidly than seemed to be the case last year.