HC Deb 19 June 1890 vol 345 cc1357-8
DR. KENNY

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, in view of the fact that there exists in the public mind a suspicion that so much soreness must necessarily remain in the minds of certain officials of Chatham Convict Prison, against whom charges of cruelty, &c., were made by Messrs. Daly, Egan, and other prisoners in that establishment, towards said prisoners for having made said charges, as to make it very difficult for the officials in question to discharge impartially and without friction their duties in relation to such prisoners, he will, in the interests of the officials involved, direct the removal of the prisoners in question to some other convict establishment where no ground can exist for such suspicions?

MR. MATTHEWS

I have seen no evidence that there exists in the public mind any suspicion of the kind referred to. I am assured, as a matter of fact, by the Directors of Convict Prisons, that there is no difficulty in the wav of the impartial discharge of their duties by the officials of Chatham Prison, and that no sort of soreness exists in their minds in consequence of the complaints that have been made against them. No cause, therefore, exists for the removal of the prisoners in question on these grounds. I may point out that the complaints and the events to which they refer occurred some 18 months or two years ago, yet the prisoners admitted to the visitors that their treatment had improved during the last 18 months. This shows that the officers do not cherish any resentment, as the question seems to suggest.

DR. KENNY

I wish also to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, in view of the fact that the recent official inquiry into the charges and allegations of cruelty and petty annoyances, &c, made by Messrs. Daly, Egan, and other prisoners undergoing penal servitude in Chatham Prison, against officials in that prison, has failed to satisfy public opinion in Ireland and elsewhere as to the truth or otherwise of said charges and allegations, and as to the impartiality of the said inquiry, he will consent to grant a sworn inquiry, by independent and non-official persons, as to the truth of the charges put forward?

MR. MATTHEWS

I have no reason to believe that public opinion has not been satisfied by the thoroughly exhaustive and impartial inquiry of the Prison Visitors at Chatham Prison, which, to my mind, is quite conclusive on the subject of the charges and allegations of cruelty and petty annoyance made by Messrs. Daly, Egan, and other prisoners. I have no power to grant a sworn inquiry, but the essential feature of the inquiry just concluded is that it was conducted by independent and non-official persons. The Visitors were instituted for the very purpose of having a non-official Court of Review as to the conduct of prison officials.

MR. J. O'CONNOR

Has the right hon. Gentleman the Home Secretary done anything with a view to removing' Scotch convicts from Chatham?

MR. MATTHEWS

I am in communication with the Scotch Office.

DR. KENNY

Is the right, hon. Gentleman aware that a great number of public bodies in Ireland have passed resolutions expressing the opposite opinion conveyed by the right hon. Gentleman as to the inquiry having been thorough and impartial?

MR. MATTHEWS

I do not, agree with that view.

MR. J. O'CONNOR

We shall raise this question on the Estimates.