§ 73. Sir B. Jannerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that young men sentenced to a detention centre arrive at the centre without any documents concerning their previous record or work or home background and that these documents usually reach the centre about a week after the admission of the detainee; and if he will arrange that in future the police take with the detainee a note of such facts as well as such documents as were available to the sentencing court.
§ The Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. George Thomas)Assizes and quarter sessions 1721 usually send with the detainee the reports which they have had before them. Magistrates' courts do not normally have such reports to send, and in that event the detention centre obtains information from those able to furnish it. My right hon. Friend is considering whether these arrangements can be improved.
§ Sir B. JannerWhile thanking my hon. Friend for his reply, may I ask him whether he will take into consideration the fact that when an individual is sent to a detention centre, unless the authorities there have the particulars of what the individual has been sent there for they are in a difficulty in respect of his treatment; and, consequently, unless and until those particulars arrive, the person detained may be dealt with in a manner very different from that intended by the court?
§ Mr. ThomasYes, Sir.