Sir Harold Scott, who is the head of Scotland Yard,
in condemning British prisons root and branch, speaks with full knowledge of his subject, for he was for seven years Chairman of the Prison Com- missioners. And there is no doubt that he is completely right. The only two prisons with which I am personally familiar are Dartmoor and Pentonville, and I think both of these are, if anything, below the average. But the average is low enough in all conscience, and I find nothing to quarrel with in Sir Harold's counsel: "Dynamite the lot." The fact is that prison reform as a whole, and the reform of prison architecture in particular, has somehow been completely overlooked when reforming zeal in other fields has been rampant. There is a great opportunity here for the present Home Secretary. Mr. Chuter Ede combines in an unusual degree warm humanity with practical sound sense, and answers he has given in the House of Commons on this subject show that he is fully alive to the defects of existing prison buildings. He is probably equal to overcoming any reluctance on the part of the Treasury to footing the bill for new buildings, but he has his hands full with the promised Criminal Justice Bill, and in any case Mr. Bevan would probably insist on cornering bricks and mortar for some time yet. So for the present our prisons will have to continue to disgrace us.
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