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From: 'Felon,' I. Bruce-Gat-dyne, MP, Miles Hudson, R. S. l• Hawkins, Rodney Barnes, S. D. W. Milligan, Michael Edgcombe, Maurice Craig, Barbara Tuchman, Rev. Timothy Beaumont.
The Scandal of Parkhurst Jail
SIR,—Giles Playfair is so right. The Home Secretary's apparent sweet reason is one big hogwash. The Adult Offender is so remote from the truth that one can °illy suppose it was written cynically for a gullible public and for MPs, blind, deaf and mute as Hindoo monkeys.
Every prisoner is appalled by the train robbery sentences. Far from deterring, the general opinion now is that it is essential to be armed on a robbery to avoid capture. In any case murder leads to mere life imprisonment, nine years on average, and if the chances are that a savage sentence will be imposed, the robber may as well commit murder.
The judges have effectively ruined all attempts of the Prison Department—in' default of any rational policy—to ameliorate conditions. Before the war conditions were not much worse and three years was a big sentence. Now it is given to first offenders. Prisoners laugh at the Home Secretary's new parole scheme because we know the judges will simply give longer sentences, ninety years instead of thirty, ten years instead of five. These supposed guardians of society are barbarians (I except the Old Bailey which every crook feels is the fairest court in the land) who are creating a Chicago mentality, a brutality which has not existed till now among criminals. Do they ever pause to consider the elementary psychology of prolonged imprisonment? The bitterness and petti- ness and frustration of years of jail build up an over- whelming desire for revenge. As sentences become more inhuman, so the revenge will be more savage. Why should a crook have scruples about life if society is going to destroy his? A few points are raised by the press hogwash: Durham is a filthy jail. I don't suppose Miss Bacon arrived at 6.45 a.m. on her visit when the stink of urine bits you like a wet blanket in the face. The punishment wing is notorious among prisoners 'for incidents of violence. Wandsworth, Parkhurst, all the long-term jails have the same reputation, but Durham beats the lot. Protest is useless.
The Prison Department is simply asking for trouble at Parkhurst. They are cooping up too many desperate men who have everything to gain and nothing to lose. The very business of being classed with Straffen Will cause trouble, perhaps justified violence. This hutch destroys all possibility of a balanced community life, which, despite all odds. can be created in prison. Tele- vision, library books (remember most prisoners are ill-educated) and ping-pong are foolish substitutes for living. The Governor at Parkhurst hopes the men will 'make a garden' and 'invent games.' Does he sup- pose they are Girl Guides? This typifies Prison De- partment efforts—a mixture of smug morality and infantile games. These governors, who are so full of kindness and sympathy when the press is arormd, treat, with a few exceptions, their nen like dangerous animals.
Complaint is useless : every prisoner knows petition- ing to be a waste of time where conditions are con- cerned. However, with the increasing complexity of the laws and the jail-happy attitude of the judies, more and more educated men are going to prison. Prisoners are often brutal and unscrupulous but they remain human beings and citizens. The Girl Guide amelioration will lead nowhere—treated like children and expected to behave like men, or rather like meek bank clerks and time-servers—at least under the old dispensation stitching mailbags made no pretence of being 'useful training.' For twenty years. day in, day out, the train robbers will face this. The judges invite a massacre of screws and pole t9 free them. When this happens the prisons witi-be en fete.
It may interest your readers to know that for the
hideous crime of communicating with the press. I would receive six months loss of remission, fifty-six days solitary, fifteen days bread and water and loss of privileges (i.e. library, canteen, smoking) for six months. Thus I must reluctantly subscribe myself ELI ON (Name and address supplied) HM Prison [Certain passages in the above letter have been deleted on legal advice.—Editor. SPECTATOR1
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