§ Mr. LANSBURYasked the Home Secretary if his attention has been called to the 1432W case of George Lawrence, sixty-eight years of age, sentenced at the London Sessions on 7th May to a term of twelve months' imprisonment with hard labour, and to the facts stated at his trial that he had spent nearly fifty years in gaol, the offences for which he had been sentenced being mainly for the crime of stealing to the value, for the whole period, of £20; and whether, seeing the age of this man and the fact that he appears to have been the victim of the prison system, he will on the man's release, or if possible beforehand, take such steps as are possible to secure that at least for the rest of his life this man shall be given a chance of earning his living?
§ Mr. McKENNAMy attention had not been previously called to the case. The prisoner appears to belong to the class who are somewhat weak-minded and for whom proper provision can be made only by the new legislation which I am about to propose. At present, all I can do is to give instructions for his being brought at the end of his sentence specially to the notice of the agencies which exist for the assistance of discharged prisoners with a view to doing everything that may be possible to assist him to earn an honest living.