MR. SULLIVANin rising to call attention to the circumstances under which certain changes have recently been made in the Medical Supervision of Government Convict Prisons in Ireland, whereby the previous custom of committing such supervision to visiting Physicians of especially high position and of extensive out-door general-practice has been abolished, and Medical Officers entirely resident in the Prisons, who are exclusively prison officials, have 1563 been appointed to the sole medical charge of Convict Prisons in Ireland, said that in bringing forward this question he disclaimed all intention of reflecting on the conduct of individuals. His observations were directed against a system which he considered unjust and injurious, and as tending to the exercise of too great severity against the prisoners; and he maintained that the medical officer of a prison should be placed in a position of independence, so that if any conflict of opinion arose between him and the governor or the other authorities, he could speak his mind boldly or fearlessly, altogether uninfluenced by the apprehension of unpleasant consequences. How was it possible that a medical officer who resided within a convict prison could be independent when he was under the control of the governor? He would refer to a case that occurred in Spike Island, Cork, where a man's eyes became bad; but the governor did not believe it, and thought he was shamming, and would not allow the medical officer to attend him. That gentleman who had been several times reprimanded for allowing himself to be imposed upon by malingerers, gave up his opinion that the man was really suffering, and the consequence was that the man got worse, and being subsequently sent to Dublin, the doctors pronounced his sight hopelessly gone; the medical gentleman being dismissed for negligence. There was an instance of the evil effects of medical men being placed under the control of the governor of the prison. It was therefore clear that it was most injurious to have a medical officer under the influence and authority of governors of prisons. He submitted that the old system afforded a much stronger guarantee that no severity in prison discipline was pursued beyond the line where independent medical testimony would arrest such a course of proceeding. If it could not be returned to, it would be better, at least, that some out-door physician should occasionally visit the prison.
§ SIR MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH, said, that as the subject had, to some extent, been already debated during that Session, he would not trouble the House with many observations, the more especially as the change the hon. Member complained of, which was the last of the kind, occurred in 1867, and 1564 the present Government had nothing whatever to do with it. He believed, however, that change had been made on perfectly good grounds. It was considered that, however eminent the visiting medical officers might be, if they resided outside the prison, it would be found that great loss of time would arise when visits were required. Most of them were, when first appointed, young men, to whom the appointment was an advantage; but as their practice increased, the position was not so valuable as at first, and there was a strong temptation either to neglect these appointments in favour of private practice, or to regard the prisons as hospitals for the practice of their students. He had been informed that the substitution of a resident medical officer within the prison had been found to be of the utmost benefit to the prisoners as far as regarded their health, and also as regarded discipline. There was no necessity for any external superintendence. The chaplains might easily call attention to any want of proper care in any particular case, and the medical officers were always only too glad to call in external assistance and advice when it was required. Beyond that, the Inspector of Convict Prisons had reported that any change would be injurious to the convicts, and likewise to the discipline of the prisons. Every convict prison in England had a resident medical officer, and not a single case of neglect of duty had been alleged against the medical officers of the Irish Convict Prisons. There were plenty of external checks if any misconduct occurred, and he did wish that the hon. Member for Louth would place a little more confidence in his own countrymen.
§ MR. O'REILLYsaid, his hon. Friend did not complain either of the ability or honesty of the medical officers. But it was in human nature that when a medical man was placed in a prison as a permanent official, he would come to look upon the cases brought under his notice, and would treat them from a prison-official point of view. That could only be counteracted by the supervision of an independent outside medical authority. As to immediate medical assistance, that could be afforded by a resident apothecary. But in cases of separate and solitary confinement, the visits of an independent outside medical man 1565 would be the best preventative of possible abuse.