The release of Dr. Alan Nunn May from Wakefield Prison
this week enabled a number of British newspapers to display the indecency customary in some at least of them. Over thirty reporters and photographers are said to have gathered at the prison doors, while others of their colleagues were ringing u Dr. May's relatives and friends. What did they want ? Wha was he likely to be able to say—still less want to say—afte six years' seclusion from the world ? However, the authorities were for once more astute than the journalists. A man, who turned out to be not the released prisoner but a prison official, was duly driven away from the prison gates in a closed vehicle and duly pursued by the 'questing Press. When and how. Dr. May left the prison no journalist seems to have discovered yet. The Home Office has explained that in its view it is undesirable that a prisoner should be subjected to undue publicity at the moment of release; and that " as extraordinary steps were being taken to give Dr. Nunn May such publicity it was necessary to take suitable steps to safeguard him." No one not animated by sheer perversity or sheer malignity is likely to dissent from that. One word should be added. I see an American State Department official thought it "very strange" that Dr. Nunn May should have been freed before the full term. You cannot defy laws, or even rules and regulations, for the advantage or disadvantage of a particular prisoner. Every prisoner sentenced to ten years can secure a remission of one-third by consisten good conduct. * *
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