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158
Annual Report of the London County Council, 1912.
Infectious
Disease in
Places of
Detention.
Places of detention were transferred to the Council in 1910, they serve the purpose of temporary
shelters for those London children who, for various reasons, come under the notice of the police.
The average time during which children may be detained in a home is 14 days. During this period
it is the Council's duty to house and provide for them; they must be sorted into groups according to
age, sex, and whether healthy or sick, must be cleansed, medically treated, fed and educated, until
they can attend the Children's Court.
They are generally dealt with in two ways:—
(i.) The magistrate sends them to an industrial school; if too young, they are boarded
out with foster parents. (The education department of the Council is responsible for providing
and maintaining these institutions and keeping them under inspection.)
(ii.) The magistrate allows the child to return to its home and parents.
While the Council has control of these homes, the decision as to who shall, or shall not, be sent
to them rests with the police. Legally no case can be refused admission if brought with a warrant.
Inasmuch as infectious cases must be admitted there is a very grave risk of spreading infection
amongst children detained in these homes, and by them to industrial schools, often out of London, or
to homes where they have to be boarded out. Under the present conditions the first risk cannot be
entirely avoided, but may be minimised; but the second risk may be entirely overco me.
The efficiency of a home of detention from this point of view depends upon the following
conditions:
1st. The home must be provided with a sufficient trained staff.
2nd. It must be so arranged that the following principles can be readily carried out:—
(a) Every new admission should be quarantined until the child has been cleansed,
inspected and passed by the doctor subsequently at his visit.
(b) Accommodation for inmates should be so adapted as to allow for grouping of
children into small sections.
(c) Provision of isolation accommodation should be available for all suspicious cases
as they arise in the home.
(d) Arrangements should be made with outside authorities for the reception of all
cases of infectious and contagious diseases occurring in the home, and with hospitals
for the reception of all other medical and surgical cases which require treatment and
may be detained in the home for any period over the 14 days.
It is essential for the working of such a home that no child should be detained there longer than
is absolutely necessary.
The three homes taken over by the Council in 1910 were quite unsuitable for carrying out the
work in accordance with the principles outlined above. The accommodation was insufficient,
necessitating overcrowding and excluding any possibility of classification; moreover, there was no
medical supervision and no attempt at isolation and quarantine. The Council has, since taking the
homes over, introduced many improvements, one of the first of which was the remodelling of Pentonville
Home. This scheme involved the building of separate dormitories, and the provision of separate
lavatory and washing accommodation and playgrounds so that the separation of the sexes was
possible.
The sleeping accommodation in the old building was discontinued and arrangements were made
for—
(1) Admission and quarantine of new cases.
(2) Isolation and quarantine of old cases.
(3) Schoolroom and dining accommodation.
(4) Providing a doctor's room.
The next step was to transfer all young children to a separate home. For this purpose
Camberwell-green Home was set apart and all the children under seven were transferred there.
Camberwell-green, unfortunately, is also an unsuitable place, but arrangements are being made to
provide a suitable home at Ponton-road to take the place of Camberwell-green. This home will be ready
for occupation early in 1913.
The risk of introducing infectious and contagious diseases into the home from without is exhibited
in the subjoined table showing that the following infectious diseases were from time to time introduced
into Pentonville—whooping cough, chickenpox, rubella, ophthalmia and ringworm—some of these
diseases it will be seen from the table were transferred with the younger children to Camberwell-green
Home. Here the accommodation and the nursing arrangements were unsatisfactory, so that
whooping cough, ringworm and ophthalmia cases continued to recur amongst the inmates.
Altogether 15 cases of whooping cough, 2 of ringworm and 15 of ophthalmic occurred from the date
of transference of the young children in July to the end of the year, and the home was placed in
quarantine from 10th October to 13th December. It is hoped that when Ponton-road is open
efficient nursing arrangements and opportunity for segregation and quarantine will prevent such
occurrences. An outbreak of an infectious fever results in the closing of the whole or a part of the
institution until it is certain that no other case will develop. If the home is closed the committed
children have all to be distributed among the other homes; as the supply of cases is fairly constant the
other homes are congested and there is greater liability of spread of infection. In 1912 Pentonville and