The English Prison System

by Sir Evelyn Ruggles-Brise

(3) That a Sub-Committee of ladies be appointed for the assistance of female prisoners, and that they act under instructions prescribed for them by the Commissioners.

(4) That for both male and female prisoners, Agents should be appointed in all cases.

(5) That the Society should establish relations with any Labour Homes or Institutions for men and women that may exist in the county or district, and shall arrange for the charge of cases by payment of a capitation grant.

(6) That the Society should appoint corresponding members or committees, e.g., Clergymen, Police Officers, private individuals (male and female) in districts remote from the Prison with the object of (a) paying gratuities; (b) following up a case; (c) securing care and superintendence in a deserving case; (d) furnishing information with a view to employment.

(7) That the Society should take charge of all gratuities and arrange for their disbursement in a manner most advantageous to the prisoner, and calculated to prevent the immediate and useless dissipation of the money. Payments of cash in lump sums should, as far as possible, be avoided, and receipts for all cases should be taken for the aid which has been given. Payments by instalments and through the agencies described in (6) will be preferred, and when necessary, payments in kind by the purchase of clothes or materials, according to the needs of each case.

(8) That the Society should allow other benevolent societies or persons desirous of assisting discharged prisoners to make arrangements for so doing, subject to its approval and control.

(9) That the Societies should co-operate with each other by mutual arrangement, in taking charge of cases coming from districts other than their own; especially of the juveniles whose sentences are in excess of one month and who are transferred to collecting or district prisons, and who thus by being moved out of their own localities might suffer by being deprived of local interest in their case.

It will be seen that these Regulations did not fundamentally alter the principles according to which the aid to discharged prisoners had hitherto been regulated. Gratuity remained part of the system: there was no proposal to increase the Government Grant, and the new Regulations applied only to prisoners discharged from Local Prisons. The object in view was mainly to secure greater uniformity in method, and otherwise to secure the co-operation of any outside agencies, persons, or Institutions which might be able to give assistance in the districts where the prisoners were discharged.

No further action was taken in the way of improving or altering the system of aid-on-discharge in either Convict or Local Prisons till some ten years later, when a very important step was taken, completely changing the system of the former, and largely modifying that of the latter. The Commissioners informed the Secretary of State in 1909 that, after full consideration, they had come to the opinion that the task of rehabilitation in the case of a man on discharge from a sentence of Penal Servitude was too difficult and too costly to be left entirely to voluntary Societies unaided by any grant of public funds, and working independently of each other, at a problem where unity of method and direction are above all things required. Mr. Secretary Churchill, to whom these views were represented, at once agreed that a new Agency should be established for the aid of discharged convicts, and announced his decision in the House of Commons in July, 1910. The new Association has accordingly been formed, and is called, "The Central Association for the Aid of Discharged Convicts." It combines, for the common purpose of aiding prisoners on discharge from penal servitude, all those Societies which had hitherto been operating independently at Prisons. This new Association is subsidized by the Government, and is not dependent on voluntary contributions. At the same time, the Gratuity System has been discontinued, and the Association undertakes to provide in the case of every discharged convict, so that he may not be without the necessaries of life, and a fair prospect of rehabilitation on the day of discharge. The Association, which is under the capable management of Sir Wemyss Grant-Wilson at 15, Buckingham Street, W.C., established a procedure by which every convict is interviewed at a reasonable period before discharge. At this visit, his wishes and circumstances are ascertained, and if he desires to place himself under the care of any of the Societies represented on the Association, arrangements are made accordingly.

The Association is governed by a General Council, of which the Secretary of State is President, and on which the Societies and Institutions hitherto operating in this particular field of charity are represented.