The S.O.M.P.A. Report
| Published date | 01 June 1966 |
| Date | 01 June 1966 |
| Author | Kate Lyon |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455056601200204 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
will be collated by a research worker so that the value of each may be assessed.
We very much hope that something really useful will emerge from all of this.
There is one more point I want to make. All that I have been talking about
relates to men coming out of prison. The White Paper on the adult offender
indicates that we may be moving towards the same sort of places being used as
an alternative to prison in suitable cases. How much I, like many others on the
bench, look forward to that for the sort of man we get regularly in the magis-
strates’ court, with a long list of offences all over the country; no fixed address
(so no scope for probation); no job or money (so no scope for a fine); the only
answer-prison again with the vague hope that someone may be able to find a
niche for him when he comes out.
The general public have no idea of what the inhabitants of our prisons are
really like. They do not realise that very few of them are really the cool
calculating professional crooks whose activities make the headlines. Those are
a small elite among criminals, and in fact few of them arrive in prison at all-
they are too fly to get caught.
The great majority of the prison population are people who have drifted into
crime because they have not been able to make a success of anything else, and
then end up in prison because they have not even been able to make a success
of crime. I do not believe there is any dispute about this among people who know
the facts. The trouble is that the public do not know, and this is made obvious,
for instance, when anyone wants to open a hostel for discharged prisoners. The
local inhabitants and usually the local authorities also quickly show what they
think about the idea. But equally, when things are finally under way and the
locals see what their neighbours are really like the hostility melts away and in
no time happy relationships are established.
So what I say is wanted is a real drive to educate the public in these matters,
with publicity on a large-scale, national, professional level; and the Government
should find the means to ensure that it happens. Not only is this essential for
the success of a more constructive penal policy, but also it would help the
recruitment of prison officers and probation oflicers, as well as the voluntary
helpers who are going to be needed.
And so, while commending the Government on their goodwill and enthusiasm,
my recommendations to them would be first, to educate the public, for none of
these things will work unless public opinion understands and approves: second
to...
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