we have already been pleased to be able to place our records at the disposal of the Cambridge institute of criminology in a study of some aspects of preventive detention . 38 . on a more favourable note we quote the experience of one of the major combined area probation committees , whose annual report states that 83 per cent of its prison after-care cases completed their supervision satisfactorily compared with 72 per cent ex-borstal and 47 per cent ex-approved school cases . the ex-prisoners were the largest group out of a total of 185 persons from all three sources . 39 . it is never easy to forecast how any man will respond to after-care so that we were dubious of the prospects for W &amp;hellip; , a man of 39 with a criminal history stretching back 25 years . on his eleventh appearance before the court he had received a sentence of 8 years &apos; preventive detention . in prison he was described as an unhappy creature who had started life badly - an unreliable and untrustworthy man who had steadily deteriorated over the years until he possessed neither the inclination nor determination to mend his ways . W &amp;hellip; was placed in the care of one of our associates whom he met regularly for the next eighteen months . during this time W &amp;hellip; became aware of his own problems and limitations , but in the associate &apos;s skilled care he was also made aware of his own potential . to his amazement he remained in the same job throughout his supervision and proved to himself that there was no need for him to return to crime . he has , in fact , retained a friendly contact with our associate although his statutory period of supervision has long since ended . 40 . our case histories are not all so successful . J &amp;hellip; was also released from a sentence of eight years &apos; preventive detention . in this instance business man in the north of England offered to find work and lodgings for him . in addition to his fare and subsistence on leaving the prison he received immediate aid from the national assistance board until he received his first week &apos;s wages , and working clothes through our associate . his new employer found him a furnished flat and being connected with a local football club provided him with a season ticket . within a week J &amp;hellip; was before a court again , having stolen from the flat and pawned the articles following on a week-end drinking bout . he is now back in prison after which we shall try again . 41 . life imprisonment . - the division is also responsible for the supervision of men sentenced to life imprisonment and subsequently released by the Secretary of state on conditional licence . the number under statutory supervision at the year end was 20 , with an additional two persons under voluntary supervision . while some of these men will always need the help of the association &apos;s staff and associates to order their lives , others have now reached a state of maturity which has enabled them to integrate themselves happily and successfully with the community . 42 . home leave . - in 1960 the number of prisoners granted home leave for employment and re-acclimatisation purposes and who would be the division &apos;s responsibility on discharge , reached a record total of 579 against 489 the previous year . home leave involves a preliminary enquiry being made at each home ( often incurring more than one visit ) and at least once interview with each prisoner whilst on leave . the increasing N.A.D.P.A.S prison welfare Officer complement is providing an accumulating load of home enquiries of many kinds relating to health , marital and property problems . unpredicted home enquiries bear particularly heavily on a small welfare staff covering the whole of the metropolitan area since they can not be planned beforehand yet must be carried out quickly if they are to be effective . few of these homes are on the telephone , many of the wives or parents are working and a long journey by public transport is wasted if our caller can obtain no reply . 43 . discharged under section 29 of the prison act , 1952 . - the exercise of this police function , which we have regularly deplored in recent years , has continued throughout the year with the prospect that this will be the last occasion to report . 3,497 men were discharged during 1960 with the obligation to report their addresses . of the 3,387 discharged during 1959 , the position at the end of 1960 was that 1,101 ( 32.5 per cent ) had been reconvicted and 526 ( 15.5 per cent ) required to report directly to the police . 44 . accommodation . - whilst the problem of finding work has only been serious in pockets of unemployment , that of finding suitable accommodation continues difficult . in fact , the more alternative occupations there are available , the fewer the women who take in lodgers . after-care is sometimes criticised for not having rooms ready for an ex-prisoner , but experience has shown that such a plan almost automatically publicises a client &apos;s previous occupation . the alternative of putting a man into hostel accommodation for one night while providing him with sufficient funds to find his own lodging is ultimately a more effective arrangement . 45 . in this connection we appreciate the work of such organisations as Norman House and Langley House , both now firmly established in their role of providing a special form of residential support and friendships for homeless ex-prisoners . the close and mutually advantageous relations which have been established between them and the official bodies augur well for the future development of such ventures which we understand are being planned in the provinces . 46 . the year has been marked by increasing co-operation between the division and the national assistance board and of more sympathetic understanding of the difficulties of the ex-prisoners at all levels . groups of national assistance board Officers have been addressed on these problems and resulting from a mutual review of procedure , discharged prisoners have since 1st August , 1960 , been accepted directly at the board &apos;s office before registering for unemployment with the ministry of labour . this has proved particularly beneficial to the homeless man in immediate need of finding lodgings . 47 . relationships with our colleagues in the prison service , the national association of discharged prisoners &apos; aid societies , the national assistance board and the ministry of labour continue close and productive . these bodies are selected for mention solely because their functions are so closely integrated with our own . the achievement of close personal contact with our probation service associates was cemented by an invitation to the Director to address the annual conference of the national association of probation Officers . particular effort has been made during the year to invite the co-operation of the national council of social service , the national citizens advice bureau and the women &apos;s voluntary service in our work . to all who have shown their practical sympathy and understanding of our task , we offer our grateful thanks . chapter five . treatment of boys . 1 . general . - in order to implement the proposals in the criminal justice bill , 1960 , relating to the treatment of young offenders a considerable extension of the system of borstals and detention centres will be needed . 2 . three secure borstals are to be provided at Swinfen , Staffs , Wellingborough , Northants , and additional open borstals at Finnamore Wood Camp , Bucks ( now partially occupied ) and Shaftesbury , Dorset . the open borstal at Huntercombe is being adapted for use as a medium security borstal , and the adaption of Aylesbury prison as an establishment for young offenders has made further progress . 3 . three senior detention centres were opened in the early months of 1961 at New Hall Camp , Yorks , Medomsley , County Durham and Aylesbury , Bucks . it is hoped to have four more centres ready by early 1962 at Erlestoke , Wilts , Aldington , Kent , East Clandon , Surrey and Haslar , Hants , and a further centre at Kirklevington , Yorks , during 1963 . the semi-secure borstal at Buckley , Lancs will become a detention centre in the autumn of 1961 . 4 . population . - committals to borstal increased from 3,062 in 1959 to 3,476 in 1960 , and the daily average population in borstals from 4,034 to 4,115 . 5 . reception centres were under constant pressure ; one centre dealt with 2,028 cases , more than double the number handled three years ago . the modified form of allocation procedure reported last year and some staff additions enabled the centres to meet the demands of the training borstals , and for one of them to increase the psychological and psychiatric coverage . 6 . the quality of borstal receptions during the year has been assessed in three ways : ( a ) in terms of the nature of the offences leading to the borstal sentence ; ( b ) in terms of educational and intellectual criteria ; ( c ) in terms of Mannheim-Wilkins prediction groups . no new trend was observed in the type of offence , the great majority of which continued to be those of breaking and entering and stealing . offences against the person , including sexual offences , remained at about 12 1/2 per cent of the total offences . the distribution of intelligence and educational attainment also remained virtually unchanged , but there was a further deterioration in terms of the Mannheim-Wilkins prediction ratings which seems likely to have an adverse effect on training results . no less than 66.4 per cent of last year &apos;s receptions fell into the C and D categories , those with the poorest prospects of success . this compares with 56.5 per cent in 1957 and 25.5 per cent in 1946 ( when the original research was undertaken ) whilst the present proportion of 9.9 per cent in the A and B categories ( with the best proportion of success ) compares with 10.2 per cent in 1957 and 32.7 per cent in 1946 . this deterioration in the quality of the training material suggests that the success rate is likely to be under 40 per cent . 7 . the number of young offenders sentenced to imprisonment increased from 2,498 in 1959 to 3,099 in 1960 , and the number of committals to detention centres ( which was limited by the capacity of the centres ) showed a slight drop from 1,356 to 1,295 . borstal training . 8 . general . - this was the last full year in which Northallerton functioned as a preliminary training borstal . at the beginning of 1961 it became a full training borstal , when it was decided to discontinue the policy of sending boys , who might later be suitable for open training , to Northallerton for some months before making a decision as to their final training borstal . some borstals felt that they were getting boys from Northallerton too late in their training , and that the period in which a lad settled in and became known by the new staff , tended to extend his training beyond the time he would have spent had he been originally allocated to his final borstal . this appeared unfair to the boy and sometimes affected his whole outlook . when the Northallerton staff were asked to concentrate their preliminary training into a shorter period so that it was not necessary to wait until a lad had attained senior training grade before sending him away , they were not so certain of their findings and tended to send more boys to closed conditions as a safety precaution . however , this difficulty might have been overcome had it not been necessary to use the training places at Northallerton for boys who needed the restriction imposed by this kind of borstal . the experiment has been one of great interest and may be repeated when conditions are more favourable ; Northallerton has done valuable and effective work , transferring some 340 lads to open conditions after having settled them down to borstal and dissipated the urge to run away that causes an upset in the training of so many in the first months . 9 . training . - the average length of training was 16.1 months . this ranged from 9.2 to 36 months . the average time at Reading was 27.7 months for those boys ultimately released from there . the full picture of the training programme given in previous reports has not greatly altered , but the concentrated effort required to prepare a lad for release in the shorter training period introduced during the past two years has increased the intensity of the work . one governor reports that at his borstal almost twice as many boys have been dealt with as in earlier years . 