HC Deb 26 May 1845 vol 80 cc857-8
Mr. E. Ellice

, jun., who was but imperfectly heard in the gallery, begged to call the attention of the right hon. Baronet the Secretary for the Home Department, to the case of a man named Slyman, recently tried for murder, in Scotland, and acquitted on the ground of insanity. The man, although decidedly insane, still remained in the criminal prison, every lunatic asylum having refused to receive him. He would, with the permission of the House, read a passage from a letter which he had that day received on the subject. The extracts were as follows:— We held to-day our first annual meeting of the County Prison Board, and Slyman's case was discussed. It is really a case in which humanity calls loudly for relief. The man is now dangerously insane, and yet remains in the criminal prison, where the necessity of keeping him from doing mischief precludes the possibility of giving him the air and exercise necessary in his disease. The surgeon has certified that he is literally dying by inches under the restraint, and yet there is no remedy; as on one occasion when he was let out in the yard among the other prisoners he became furious, and it took the united strength of several men to secure him and convey him back to his cell. Now, this was the case of a man who had been acquitted, and yet was allowed to die by inches under improper restraint. The question he wished to ask was, whether the case had been brought under the notice of Government, and whether any steps would be taken to send the man to an asylum, or at least to the Penitentiary at Perth?

Sir J. Graham

said, that the case was a peculiar and a melancholy one, but he hoped the House would pause before it interfered. The hon. Member for Cupar was in error, in stating that the prisoner in question had been acquitted of the charge of murder; he was not acquitted, but the jury found that he was irresponsible from insanity. There was no question that he had committed the murder, that he was a most dangerous lunatic, and a murderer, although not responsible for his crime. By the law of Scotland he could not be removed from Scotland, and no private asylum was willing to receive him; and, further, no public asylum could be compelled to take him in. He was a prisoner rightly imprisoned, there to remain during the pleasure of the Crown, and could not be released without the greatest danger to the public. He deeply regretted that the confinement of the lunatic was inconsistent with his health, but it was no more rigorous than was absolutely necessary. The man could not be removed; neither could be beliberated: and he was bound to say, that proper care being taken that no undue severity was practised, he did not think the authorities could have taken any course other than that which had been taken. He and the Lord Advocate had paid the utmost attention to the case, and that was the conclusion they had come to.

Subject at an end.