§ Mr. DORANasked the Home Secretary whether he is aware of the ill effects of police supervision on discharged prisoners, many of whom have only served a short term of imprisonment for a first offence; and whether, in view of the fact that this practice makes it difficult for these men to seek honest employment and is therefore a direct incitement to further criminal activity, he will take the necessary steps to modify the practice and ensure on the part of the police a more sympathetic attitude towards cases of this kind?
§ Sir J. SIMONMy hon. Friend is under a misapprehension if he supposes that many prisoners serve a short term of imprisonment for a first offence; on the contrary, every endeavour is made to avoid sending a first offender to prison, and when this does occur no sort of police supervision would follow except in the very small number of cases in which a sentence of penal servitude has been imposed and the person has been released on licence. Even in the case of those persons there is no foundation for the suggestion that they are subjected to police supervision in such a way as to interfere with their prospects of obtaining honest employment. If my hon. Friend knows of any case in which he thinks an ex-prisoner has been hampered by the police and if he will send me particulars, I will have inquiry made.