§ Mr. Moateasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has received the report of the recent inquiry into complaints about New Hall Detention Centre ; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MaudlingYes. Two young men who were released from New Hall Detention Centre in January, 1971, subsequently complained to B.B.C. Radio Teesside about the treatment they had received at the centre. These complaints, which included allegations of brutality by staff, were communicated to the Home Office and later broadcast. I asked the Chairman of the Board of Visitors at New Hall if the Board would arrange for the complaints to be investigated. A full investigation, for which I am most grateful, has now been carried out by a group consisting of the Chairman, another member of the Board of Visitors at New72W Hall, and the Chairman of the Board of Visitors at another detention centre.
They have inquired into the complaints in detail and have interviewed the two young men, the officers named by them and certain other witnesses. I have received their report; they are completely and unanimously convinced that none of the allegations of ill-treatment is justified, that neither of the young men has any justifiable grounds for complaint, and that none of the officers at New Hall Detention Centre has behaved in any manner which calls for reproof. I very much regret the anxiety and distress caused to officers at the detention centre by the making of these unjustified allegations.