UNGUARDED PRISON CAMP

Mt Benger Mail, 23 November 1938, Page 4

UNGUARDED PRISON CAMP

ENGLISH ADVANCE. A prison camp where there will be neither walls nor barbed-wire is to be set up in the South of England. The Prison Commissioners arc now searching for a suitable site of about 400 acres of rough land covered with small trees and scrub, which can bo reclaimed by prisoners for agricultural purposes. For convenience, the site must be within 10 miles of one of the prison towns of Winchester, Dorchester, Lewes or Oxford. There will bo accommodation in the camp for about .100 “star” prisoners —men who have not been sentenced before—and for a limited number of young 11 specials, 1 f who are prisoners convicted before, but regarded as hopeful cases for reformation. The camping prisoners will be divided into two groups. One group will be brought out by lorry each day from the parent prison, to work and play all day in the open air. . The second group will live in the camp, and prisoners who behave will never sec the inside of a cell again. They will live in huts, and, owing to the hard, manual work, receive four good meals a day. In winter, the huts will be centrally heated. In addition to messing and sleeping huts, there will be a recreation room with a table tennis and other games, writing facilities, and wireless. At night the doors of the sleeping huts will not even be locked. A light batten will bo ( slotted across outside, but so thin as to be easily broken—in case of fire. In the absence of walls, fences or barbed wire, men will simply be “put on their honour” not to escape, and experience at the only other prison camp in England, mjar Wakefield, proves that this trust is justified. As the campers reclaim the ground they will plant it out in market gardens, and lay out their own sports ground. The Wakefield Camp was started some time ago to cater for various prisons in the North of England and the Midlands. It has been such a success that it is now regarded as a permanent part of the prison administration.

THE WHOLE STORY The class had been asked to write an essay on the hen. This is how one small boy did it: — “Hens is very curious animals. They don’t have no nose, no teeth and no ears. The outside of hens is generally put into pillars and feather dusters. A hen is a lot smaller than other animals, but it can scratch up more garden in five minutes than anything else that isn’t a hen. Hens is very useful to lay eggs and eat worms.” t t “Good sermon?” asked the wife. “Yes, very.” replied hubby. “What was it about?” “Sin.” “What did the preacher say about it?” “He was against it ”