Prisoners and Their Work The committee the Home Secretary has
appointed to consider the problem of employment in prisons will find plenty of employment for itself. Obviously prisoners ought to work. Nowhere indeed is unemployment so distasteful to the unemployed themselves as in the average convict prison. Without work their life would be insupportable. But as things are two-thirds of the work done—apart from what is necessary for the upkeep of the prison establishment itself and the service of the prison community—is almost of necessity useless, for a convict must- not compete directly or indirectly with the trade unionist outside, and he must not produce goods for export. He can turn out com- modities, like mailbags, for Government use, but the demand for them is strictly limited. The problem need not be given up as insoluble, but it will unques- tionably need a lot of solving. We shall return to it at an early date. * * * *
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