Penge Penal Institute, 15 December, 6–30 pm
DCO Prendergast disciplined for negligence amounting to serious professional misconduct. A Penge youth, 18, having been sentenced to 36 strokes of the heavy strap, to be administered by SCO Rodwell, it transpired that there was no such strap on the premises. When SCO Rodwell asked for an explanation, DCO Prendergast replied that she had borrowed the strap to chastise her teenage daughter, Harriet, then omitted to return it to its usual place in the strap-box. She apologised profusely for the oversight. SCO Rodwell informed DCO Prendergast that, although her previous record was exemplary, such slipshod behaviour could not be tolerated. After she had punished the youth with the medium strap in lieu of the heavy one, increasing the number of strokes to 48, she put Miss Prendergast over her knee, lifted her skirt and spanked her with the utmost vigour, ‘as a reminder to be more careful in future’.
Signed: SCO RODWELL