Mental Inefficiency and Crime
Report of the Prison Commissioners.
JNo one who wishes to keep up-to-date their information on the subject of mental inefficiency and crime can afford to miss the Annual Reports of the Com- missioners of Prisons and the Directors of Convict Prisons, for not only are there to be found in these pages the latest facts and figures as to what is actually happening but they also reveal how the problem is presenting itself to those most closely at grips with it, and what is the angle from which it is being approached. From the report before us we learn that so far as the working of Section J of the Mental Deficiency Act is concerned, the position is distinctly improving. I here has been less delay in effecting the transfer of defectives to Certified Institu- tions and better co-operation between Local Authorities and Prison officials. The statistics given in the Report with regard to the use of the Mental Deficiency Act are as follows :?
Local Prisons. M. F. Certified during sentence to be M.D. … ?? … 65 20 Removed to Certified Institutions under Section 9 … 4.0 12 Handed over on discharge to care of Local Authorities for Place of Safety … … … ??? ??? ??? 23 5 Reported to Courts under Section 8 and dealt with … 143 23 Convict and Preventive Detention Prisons. Certified to be M.D. and removed to Institutions … … 3 men
Borstal Institutions.
Certified M.D. and removed to Institutions … … ??? 2 boys One difficulty is emphasised, however, as remaining acute?viz., that which arises by reason of the definitions in Section I. of the Act, which necessitate that before a defective can be certified evidence must be produced showing that the defect has existed ” from birth or from an early age.” In a number of cases coming under the notice of Prison Medical Officers such evidence cannot be procured and although mental defect is obviously present no action can therefore be taken.
A further group of cases continuing to present constant difficulty, which is frequently referred to in the reports of chaplains and medical officers, is that of prisoners who whilst not certifiable either under the Mental Deficiency Act or the Lunacy Act are yet so sub-normal as to require treatment of a kind which cannot be provided in an ordinary penal institution. The Commissioners are able to report that a beginning is being made to deal with this problem by grouping together such of these prisoners who have received sentences of sufficient length to justify special procedure, in certain prisons where accommodation is set aside for the purpose.! Here they are to be placed in charge of a specially trainee staffj and to be employed in association on suitable work, preferably of an open- air nature. They will, moreover, be provided with suitable teaching and instruc- tion in simple handicrafts. Such a scheme is felt to be better than nothing, but the Commissioners emphatically state that it is a ” palliative only, foi tie general environment of a prison is wrong in such cases a pionouncement which will be endorsed by all Mental Welfare workers.
Report of the Commissioners of Prisons and the Directors of Convict Prisons for the year
1923-24. H.M. Stationery Office, Is. 6d.
, ? . m:n?v,nm Liverpool, Lincoln and Wormwood t Viz.: For men, parts of the prisons at Birmingna , P Wnllowav Scrubs ; and for women, parts of those at Bhmingham. Liverp Course for this purpose if 1 The C.A.M.W. has expressed its willingness to organise a sp it can be arranged.
Turning to the section of the Report which gives extracts from the reports of local administrators?governors, chaplains and medical officers?we find some interesting sidelights thrown on this question of the mentally inefficient prisoner. The Medical Officer of Brixton Prison reports that during the year under review, 738 prisoners were remanded for report on their mental condition and in certain other cases reports were made, though not specifically asked for. Of the prisoners so examined, 108 were found to be insane; 71 were mentally defective; 36 were psychopathic, and 04 were mentally enfeebled from various causes, though not certifiable. The total number of ” trial and remand ” prisoners received during the year was 7,187, so that nearly i per cent, were actually reported upon as being mentally abnormal. The total proportion of such prisoners may, he considers, be taken as 5.5 per cent., a figure much the same as that found in previous years.
The Medical Officer of Holloway Prison, in referring to the problem of the uncertifiable but subnormal prisoner, mentions specially the number of senile debilitated women who are received, many with a great number of previous convictions behind them, and the still larger number of young girls and women who, though mentally defective, cannot be certified, either through lack of early history or because their degree of defect is not enough to bring them under the Act.
The Medical Officer of Strangeways Prison, Manchester, deplores the practice of committing mentally defective offenders to prison and then asking that their mental condition may be kept under observation, instead of remand- ing for such observation and report before conviction. The Medical Officer of the Borstal Institution at Felthain deals at length with the problem presented by the mentally retarded and temperamentally unstable boys who are still being received there. Mental tests are applied to them on admission?whilst they are still at the Wandsworth Boys’ Prison vhere all Borstal cases are first sent?and before discharge, and a special effort is being made to probe into the causes which led up to the committal of their offence.
Lastly, we quote from the Report of Dr Hamblhi Smith, the Medical Officer of Birmingham Prison, whose remarks may be taken as summing up the whole situation as it at present exists :?
” There is, in our prisons, a vast amount of valuable clinical material which is, at present, wasted for lack of research workers. The stud)’ of the individual offender has results which extend far beyond himself. .Some years ago, it was asserted that a very large proportion of our offenders were mental defectives. Careful investigation has shown that these estimates were exaggerated. Without such investigation we should not have attained that knowledge. There is a great field for psychological work with the younger offenders. Not only do we want to ascertain whether their intelligence is normal or otherwise. We want to guide their future lives. Experience is showing how useful ” vocational psychology ” may be. Much might be done in this direction. Every oflender possesses some desirable qualities, cultivation of which may make him a better member of society. Many of our cases present the problems of social mal-adjustment. Only the closest investigation will supply the clue for the rectification of these.”
Disclaimer
The historical material in this project falls into one of three categories for clearances and permissions:
Material currently under copyright, made available with a Creative Commons license chosen by the publisher.
Material that is in the public domain
Material identified by the Welcome Trust as an Orphan Work, made available with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
While we are in the process of adding metadata to the articles, please check the article at its original source for specific copyrights.