LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Selection of Prison Officers SIR,—I have not read Joan Henry's book Who Lie In Gaol, but from correspondence in the Spectator, and other papers, it is apparent that fault has been found by the author with prison officers in Holloway. Mrs. Lye11 charges Joan Henry with accusing by hearsay, but her treatment as a visiting magistrate by prison officers will be very different from the treatment a prisoner receives from the same officers. " Ex- Prison Visitor" also writes, I feel, from a rather idealistic point of view in referring to her " hostess " and " rooms." I have never been in a woman's prison, but I can assure her that in a male prison there is no affection whatever between prisoners and officers. There is a certain respect for one or two governors, who seem in the eyes of the prisoner to deal squarely with them (not all governors seem to do so). There are two governors, one of whom has risen from the ranks, who are definitely held in high esteem by almost all prisoners—first offenders and recidivists alike.
The Chairman of the Prison Commission admitted in evi- dence before the Select Commission on Estimates this year that the present system of recruiting prison officers is far from satisfactory. It seems inevitable that the admission of young men of 21 without any worldly experience to speak of to such an occupation will lead to a certain amount of trouble. Confirmed prisoners do not take kindly to being put under the control of young men without background, experience or (often) much apparent character; particularly when they know that these men have virtually the power of a dictator in so far as the prisoner has no right of appeal from the findings of the governor based on their evidence.. Nor can he call witnesses from among other prisoners in support of his case.
" Ex-Prison Visitor " says that there are individuals in every profession open to criticism, but there are few professions which give such indi- viduals greater scope for misbehaviour. As long as prison officers are recruited in the present haphazard way, the stupid, the perverse and the sadistic are likely to have at least three months before they are found to be unsuitable at their course at Wakefield. *In those three months such men can do a lot to infiiriate and exasperate prisoners, and can be responsible (often deliberately) for goading prisoners to acts of violence or indiscipline. (I do not say that there are many such men, but there certainly are some.) The danger is that in these three months men of a sadistic tempera- ment can learn enough to pass both their examination and the selection board and are confirmed in their appointment. I believe that, if a thorough investigation were made into the reasons behind cases of violence against officers, it would be seen that in almost every case an unsuitable officer has been responsible, even if another officer was actually attacked. Although I have been " inside " I do not write maliciously—I have never been in front of the governor for any kind of misdemeanour— but slate my own views and the views of many other sensible prisoners as dispassionately as I can. I enclose my name and address and ask
your permission to sign myself.—Yours faithfully, EX-PRISONER.
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