§ VISCOUNT GRIMSTON (Herts, St. Alban's)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If he is aware that a prisoner in St. Alban's Gaol, named Henry Moody, was per- 711 mitted to remain there after his discharge on account of his being ill; that the Committee of Visiting Justices of the prison requested the prison surgeon to furnish them with a certificate of his condition; that upon this the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Prisons sent down Colonel Hanken, Her Majesty's Inspector of Prisons, to attend the next meeting of the Visiting Justices at St. Alban's Gaol, and intimate to them that if they wished for a certificate as to the health of a prisoner in St. Alban's Gaol they must direct their inquiries to the Prison Commissioners in London, who would send them back information from London to St. Alban's; that the Chairman of the Visiting Justices, in consequence, tendered his resignation to the Herts Court of Quarter Sessions; that the Court of Quarter Sessions, some 60 magistrates being present, approved his action, and unanimously passed a Resolution that the subject should be brought to the notice of the Home Secretary; and, what action does Her Majesty's Government intend to take in the matter?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. MATTHEWS) (Birmingham, E.)The facts as stated to me are not the same as those which are suggested in the Question of my noble Friend. I hope he will excuse my entering into details, as I understand that I am likely to receive a communication on the subject from the Quarter Sessions, to which I will give the fullest and most careful consideration. The instructions of the Prison Commissioners are that the medical and other officers shall attend the Visiting Committee with their books, and furnish them with all the information they require.
§ VISCOUNT GRIMSTONasked, whether it was to be understood, from the answer of the right hon. Gentleman, that if Visiting Justices desired to obtain a certificate as to the health of a prisoner, a Commissioner from London was to be sent down to give them information which they could obtain in the prison itself from the officials?
§ MR. MATTHEWSIt was not my intention to convey such an impression.