HL Deb 23 March 1896 vol 38 cc1579-81
EARL STANHOPE

asked whether, in consideration of the small assistance made to Discharged Prisoners' Aid Societies throughout the country by Her Majesty's Government (which had not been revised since the prisons were taken over by the State), they would be prepared to make any recommendation to Parliament? The noble Lord remarked that he was sure their Lordships would recognise and appreciate the importance of the work done by these societies. Very often the help and assistance such a society offered a discharged prisoner were the only chance given him of starting a new and better life. Without timely aid he was likely to drift back into crime and prison. But the aid which had hitherto been granted by the Government for this purpose was comparatively very small—£1,500 a year altogether, or about 6d. for each discharged prisoner, and no alteration had been made since 1877, the time the Prisons Act was passed. Considering the large number of prisoners daily discharged in the country this sum was altogether inadequate, and, but for the supplemental aid of the various benevolent societies, the work of reform done by this means would be very small. He had been informed that the large prison at Wormwood Scrubbs, which discharged about 500 prisoners a year, received a grant in aid of only £40 a year, and, under existing arrangements, if 2,000 prisoners were annually discharged from the prison, no increase would be granted. The Lord Chief Justice had borne testimony to the value of those societies in a recent speech, and had stated that they ought to receive increased support. In 1894, a Departmental Committee on prisons was appointed, of which Mr. Herbert Gladstone was chairman, and Sir Algernon West one of the leading members, and, among other matters, the Committee considered the case of the Discharged Prisoners' Aid Societies. They reported in 1895, and, after expressing the opinion that some regulation was required in order to bring all those benevolent societies into uniformity of action, they added:— We think that the Government grant might with advantage be increased, and in any case it should be made applicable in the case of societies which conduct establishments for the reception and training of discharged prisoners on principles approved by the Government, and which can show that their efforts are practically successful. He had heard that the Home Secretary had already had the matter brought under his attention; if so, he hoped the right hon. Gentleman would give it very serious consideration.

LORD BELPER

said, he was sure that all their Lordships who were at all conversant with the work done by the Discharged Prisoners' Aid Societies, would fully concur in all that had been said by the noble Lord as to their usefulness, and the value of the work they accomplished with even the small means at their disposal. An Inquiry was now being held into the working of those societies. One of the first recommendations of the Prisons Committee Report to which the noble Lord had referred was to the effect that a detailed report of the nature and working of Prisoners' Aid Societies should be obtained, and it was in pursuance of that recommendation that the Inquiry was being made. The Committee made other recommendations bearing indirectly on the same question, and reported that the existing grant should be increased and extended in its operation on improved methods. Their Lordships would see, therefore, that it was impossible for the Home Secretary to come to any decision until those inquiries were completed. He could assure the noble Lord that the Inquiry was rapidly proceeding, that a large part of it was already completed, and that before long therefore the Home Secretary would have before him the facts necessary to enable him to come to a decision affecting the Societies.

EARL STANHOPE

asked what kind of inquiries were being made.

LORD BELPER

said a gentleman had been appointed to hold local investigations and to inquire into the management of all the different Discharged Prisoners' Aid Societies. His labours had been already more than two-thirds completed.