Mr. Grey Bennetafter a few observations on the extraordinary diminution that had been made in the quantity of food apportioned to the prisoners in the Penitentiary at Milbank, and on the evil effects of straitened diet, in producing premature mortality, amongst the prisoners, moved, "That there be laid before the House, a copy of letter dated March 1822, from Mr. Hutchison, to the committee of the general Penitentiary, on the subject of dietary:—of Report of the 2nd January 1823, on Mary Brenton's death:—of Report, in January 1823, on the state of the prison:—and, of Letters of the 8th and 19th of April."
§ Mr. Holfordvindicated the conduct of the committee, and stated the readiness with which they had applied to proper medical persons, as soon as doubts had been entertained respecting the nature of the disease with which the prisoners were afflicted.
§ Sir J. Yorkecomplained of the dismissal of Mr. Hutchison, the medical attendant of the establishment.
§ Mr. W. Courtenaysaid, that that gentleman's dismissal had been occasioned not by any opinion of his want of skill, but by the want of temper which he had displayed in his communications with the committee.
Mr. Secretary Peeldeprecated any imputation upon the conduct of the committee, to whose gratuitous exertions the public were highly indebted. With respect to the dismissal of Mr. Hutchinson, it met with his decided approbation.
Alderman Woodexpressed his opinion, that the swampy nature of the ground on which the Penitentiary was built was one great cause of the mortality that prevailed in it.
§ Mr. Peelsaid, that the medical men did not attribute the disease to the situation on which the prison was built.
§ The motion was agreed to.