(To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The suggestion made by
Mr. James Curtis that all prisoners awaiting trial should be sent to special prisons where the resident Medical Officer should be a trained psycho- logist, is an extremely interesting proposal. It is indisputable that our treatment of prisoners awaiting trial is not compatible with the fact that not having yet been proved guilty of a crime they are, technically, " innocent." Their removal to prisons where the regime would not be complicated by the presence of sentenced men, and where they could be given as much freedom as is consistent with-their safe custody, is a necessary preliminary. It would not necessarily by itself, however, provide the solution, as experience at Brixton shows, since the men there are definitely treated as prisoners with only a few additional privileges.
It is worthnoting that according to the last report of the Prison Commissioners, there were in 1934 over 7,000 men and nearly 1,500 women sent to prison on remand or for trial who were not finally sentenced to imprisonment, either because the case against them was not proVed or because the Courts did not consider them suitable cases for prison treatment. Yet they had already served something remarkably like a prison sentence.
The proposal that whilst awaiting trial there- might be an inquiry as to their past and psychological Condition does, however, raise the difficult probleth whether such an inquiry is justified in the case of a person not yet ptoved guilty. But there is one type of offender with whom such a question does not arise, namely, the juvenile offenders sent to the remand. homes. Psychological inquiry or treatment is even mare important for the young offender than for the adult. The juvenile remand homes could be made places of really con- structive investigation, instead of places for marking time as is too often the case. Most remand homes provide a perfect example of the wasted opportunity.—I am, &c., CICELY M. CRAVEN, Hon. Secretary.
The Howard League for Penal Reform, Parliament Mansions, Orchard Street, London, S.W. I.
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