PRIVILEGED PRISONERS
SIR,—How well Sir Alexander Paterson puts the case for the chance to be given to delinquents to benefit from decent surroundings which also, incidentally, help the staff in the endeavour to treat prisoners as human beings. What has been done for the youngsters in Kent and Nottingham- shire and elsewhere has also been done for adults at New Hall Camp, Wakefield, and at Leyhill (Glos.), but as these experiments were largely the inspiration of Sir Alec himself, he says nothing about them.
An even more interesting story might one day be told in full, of the emergency arrangement in the first two years of the war, when the Nottinghamshire Institution, built by Borstal boys for their own use, and without locks, bolts or bars, was occupied by nearly 200 adult prisoners, of many offences and some with 'very long sentences. There was a little trepidation about the scheme at first, but those whose doubts were keenest became ardent converts to the value of the plan as A developed, and were the most disappointed when the increasing emergency brought the venture to an end. There was no publicity about this, and so the Commissioners and officials responsible have never received any credit for what was a triumph of faith.—Yours faithfully, 34 Victoria Street, London, S.W. r.
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