HC Deb 26 July 1967 vol 751 cc883-4

Lords Amendment: No. 99, in page 43, line 22, at end insert new Clause "N":

.—(1) In section 38(3) of the Criminal Justice Act 1961 (construction of references to imprisonment or detention and sentenced) at the end there shall be added the following paragraph— '(c) any reference to a person serving a sentence of, or sentenced to, imprisonment or detention shall be construed as including a reference to a person who, under any enactment relating to children and young persons in force in any part of the United Kingdom or any of the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, has been sentenced by a court to be detained for an offence and is liable to be detained in accordance with directions given by the Secretary of State, by the Minister of Home Affairs for Northern Ireland or by the Governor of the Isle of Man with the concurrence of the Secretary of State, and any other reference to a sentence of imprisonment or detention shall be construed accordingly.'

(2) In section 49 of the Prison Act, 1952, section 37 of the Prisons (Scotland) Act, 1952 and section 38(2) of the Prison Act (Northern Ireland), 1953 (persons unlawfully at large) any reference to a person sentenced to imprisonment shall be construed as including a reference to any such person as is mentioned in the foregoing subsection.

Miss Bacon

I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.

New Clause "N" relates to the transfer among penal establishments within the British Isles of young murderers sentenced to be detained during Her Majesty's pleasure and young offenders sentenced to detention for serious crimes. Such offenders are detained in this country under subsections (1) and (2) of Section 53 of the Children and Young Persons Act, 1933, and there are comparable provisions in Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

There is already power to transfer ordinary prisoners, borstal inmates and persons ordered to be detained in detention centres, but offenders detained under Section 53 of the 1933 Act and under the comparable provisions elsewhere were not included in the categories eligible for transfer.

The effect of this oversight is, for example, that a person under 18 convicted of murder in this country but whose home roots are in Scotland cannot be transferred to that country so that his family can visit him conveniently while he is serving his sentence. This puts right that anomaly.

It being Ten o'clock, further consideration of the Lords Amendments stood adjourned.