ABSTRACT
B Efore the local prisons were transferred to the Secretary of State by the Act of 1877, they were administered by the Justices in Quarter Sessions, acting through the Visiting Justices whom they appointed, and the Act reserved certain of the powers of these Visiting Justices to new bodies called Visiting Committees. The Committees were to be appointed annually by the Benches committing to the prisons, their composition, method of appointment, powers and duties being prescribed by the Secretary of State in the Statutory Rules. For convict prisons, and later for Borstal institutions, which were under central control and to which the courts did not commit direct, similar bodies were appointed by the Secretary of State from among suitable local people, including a proportion of magistrates.
