§ COLONEL EGERTON LEIGHasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether there is anything to prevent education being made compulsory in prisons; and, should there be no obstacle, whether he will take measures as soon as possible to make education compulsory in all prisons throughout the United Kingdom?
MR. BRUCEin reply, said, that under the Prisons Act of 1865 the Visiting Justices were required to make provision in every prison for the instruction of illiterate prisoners in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and that part of the Act had been fairly well complied with. All prisoners who could not read and write were instructed in reading and writing, and those who could, in most cases, received other instruction. He had communicated with the Inspectors of Prisons, and although there were cases in which which larger provision for instruction might with advantage be made by the Visiting Justices, still he was satisfied it was unnecessary to make any change in the existing law.