[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—I feel, having read Mr. Charles Prior's letter in your issue of November 5th, that I should like to give my personal experiences of " unofficial prison visitors."
Having been sentenced to 12 months in Wormwood Scrubs Prison and having no previous experience of confinement of any kind, I was indeed very pleasantly surprised when the key turned in my cell door one evening and my visitor entered. Far from prying into my affairs, which I do not think were even mentioned, until at a later date I brought them up myself, we had the most interesting discussions on the affairs of the day, to which, of course, I had no access until I had spent four months there.
This gentleman, and I use the term in the very highest sense of the word, actually gave up his Christmas Day to visit in the prison, and no words that I could use would convey the feelings I had to receive a visit from the outside world when everything that should have been so bright was so very black. I may have been extremely fortunate in my visitor, but my general impression gained was that these unofficial visitors were a very popular institution, and in any case, to the best of my knowledge, there was no obligation on the part 'f any prisoner to receive them.—Yours, &c., Ex-PRISONER.
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