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Chapter 22 - Picking up the Pieces: 1945–1946
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 May 2022
Summary
Only a living organism, well based in good tradition and procedure, sustained by the loyalty and devotion of its constituent members, and informed by a corporate ‘will-to-win’, could have adapted itself to meet and bear the incessant and manifold stresses to which the Service was exposed during the war; and this was never more manifest than in 1945 when, despite the cumulative fatigue of years of overstrain in all sections of the staff, the Prison Service finally staved off defeat in its long battle.
Report (1945)In 1945 a political revolution took place. Despite his triumph over Hitler, Churchill could not triumph over Labour, which came to power in July with a landslide victory. Clem Attlee became Prime Minister. By this time the Labour Party, under the leadership of Alec's chum, had shed any lingering revolutionary aspirations and its ‘class-war’ pretensions, and opted for social cohesion and democratic socialism. By so doing it reflected what Paterson, an erstwhile radical Liberal, had long espoused. He also knew that a Labour administration would reintroduce a version of his much-coveted Criminal Justice Bill. Alec voted Labour, while Frank remained true blue to the last.
In the immediate post-war period there was much for Alec and his colleagues to do picking up the pieces and replenishing the losses. It was a time of exceptional difficulty for the Commissioners. The end of hostilities, far from bringing any respite to the over-strained and under-staffed prison service already entangled in a complex of urgent problems, brought still more difficulties. In particular, the highest daily population since 1914, due mainly to a doubling of the number of women prisoners and a dramatic increase of committals to borstal, had led to overcrowding and bottlenecks. The old Victorian prisons had a stay of execution. Instead of being demolished they were patched up.
Alec was still a repository of fresh ideas. He discussed with Grew, who had moved to Wormwood Scrubs in February 1945, the possibility of using ‘D’ Hall for senior-stage ‘stars’ exclusively. Within the walls they would have almost complete freedom of movement between 7am and 9pm – ‘practically “open” conditions in a close-security prison’.
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- Alexander Paterson, Prison Reformer , pp. 367 - 376Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2022