London's bastilies
LETTERS
From John Papworth, Giles Play fair, Richard White, Vice-Adinikal R. Hi Schofield: Mitjar- General C. R. A. Swynnerton, Rev. R. H. Lewers, Mrs D. E. Estcourt, James S. Dearden, Keith MoDowa14 John Hearne, C. H. Clarke, Michael W. D. White.
Sir: It must be nearly four years since I sent a few days in a single colt in Brixton. What lingers so forciblF in the mind:is. not the bullying surliness of overworked and. undertrained warders (though one at least was very kind'. bless him), not the nauseat- ing food or. the 90a-destroying architecture, or even the sense of utter defencelessness and isolation that comes from having, to stripr and- surrender all one's clothing and. alt those familiar oddments, watch, pen, handkerchief and so on which ordinary use makes. somehow an extension of one.ri person- ality,. it is simply the horrible and sicken-ng, stink.
The awful thing is that we can accustom our- selves td anything that does not stop us breathing. I doubt very much if anyone inside, from the Governor Ur the newest arrival after die first week, notices it at. alt. Yet the fact remains it exists and, as the author of the article on prisons makes clear, it exists because our prisons. are repulsively un- hygienic. E doubt very much, it the corn:lid/um that prevail are- even, in accordance with the Geneva Convention. and. I can only conclude if they are it must be a. terrifdlw inadequate dtituunent A finger of mediaeval Europe. is- prodding us in our prisonsbut, nobody does anythingbecause their sheer 1984 inaccessibility. (EN/alit/le Fry would not get past the maid gate today) keeps them out of the public mind and conscience. Those who imagine enlightened: officials- at the Home Office can be relied, on. to ensure OPOPESS here need reminding that all our new 'closed! prisons (i.e., those built since the Second World War) have the same inade- quate sanitation that makes the slopping-out ritual necessary in the old ones. Before we send any more Red Cross or Amnesty commissions to Aden or South. Africa it might be a good idea. to send one to our own prisons.
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