Merfyn Turner

Merfyn Lloyd Turner (20 October 1915 – 6 August 1991) was a Welsh prison social worker and author. In World War II he was refused recognition as a conscientious objector, which led in turn to his refusing to submit to a medical examination as an essential preliminary to call-up; for this refusal he was sentenced to three months imprisonment, giving him a life-long concern for prison reform. On release from prison, he was allowed registration as a conscientious objector, and joined the Pacifist Service Unit in Tiger Bay, Cardiff. In 1944 he moved to the settlement Oxford House, Bethnal Green, joining fellow conscientious objectors Guy Clutton-Brock, John Raven and Peter Kuenstler. In 1954, he opened Norman House as a halfway home for people leaving prison. He appeared as a "castaway" on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 30 July 1962.