TRAFALGAR SQUARE
SIR,—Regarding the recent Committee of 100 demonstration in Trafalgar Square, some `inside' information may be helpful in surmising what went on behind the scenes.
As one of the women members of the Committee just released from Holloway, I can vouch that Monday. September Aff, was a day of great activity in the prison. Beds were moved around by a working party of men from Pentonville, and cells, long disused. were cleaned out. (On our landing there were said to he seventeen free—Holloway is not full as the, men's prisons are.) In 'Receptions' there were, according to a fellow prisoner, about a hundred demonstrators expected, but there was not .going to be enough prison 'kit' to give them all the full issue.
After all these practical arrangements, it was very surprising that the demonstrators never arrived. In contrast to the harsh threats earlier, they were merely fined, some as little as 5s., and given time to pay.
What happened? Could it be that the prison governors realised the impossibility of the task, and told the authorities that it was not their business to carry the can and look after large numbers of peliti- cats-I–that overworked prison officers might even strike if hundreds of non-criminals were brought in to the already bursting prisons?
Later we heard that one of ,our prison officers had herself taken part in the sit-down, been arrested and fined, and was facing serious disciplinary action.
By a mixture of intentional and unintentional types of help, prison personnel may yet prove a standby to the Committee of 100!
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