Inquiry into the social background of convicted women at Holloway Prison infected with venereal diseases.

Abstract

All convicted women in Holloway Prison who were being treated for venereal disease between i Sej^tember 1943 and 27 January 1944 were investigated, excei>t those in hospital and a certain number who were in the venereal disease wing for too brief a period. There were 50 women thus investigated. Of these, 35 who were under the age of 25 are here reported on ; older women present somewhat different problems. Among the 35 women studied, 15 had gonorrhoea alone ; 14 had syphilis alone, and 2 had both diseases. In 2 cases the diagnosis was doubtful, and in 2 examination was refused. The women were interviewed, on one or more occasions, in a classroom set aside for the purpose, and as much information obtained from them as the conditions permitted. This was checked and supplemented by data from (1) the medical and police records kept at the prison, (2) probation officers, (3) medical officers in charge of venereal disease clinics, (4) relatives and acquaintances of the prisoners. None of these sources could provide more than partial and inadequate information for the purpose of the inquiry. The prisoners themselves did not always confide readily in the interviewer ; the police records deal only with information bearing on specific charges