THESE men were going to jail – in France. But it was not a sentence, just a fact-finding visit.

Thirteen officers from Oxford Prison set off in 1967 to spend two days in Paris, looking at administration, security and rehabilitation at Fresnes Prison.

Memory Lane this week

The trip was arranged by Officer EJ Higgins, branch secretary of the Prison Officers Association, and was the first to be made by a British party. It was hoped a visit by the French prison’s officers to Oxford could be arranged the following year.

The men had to pay their own expenses.