§ MR. MITCHELL HENRYasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether he will lay upon the Table of the House a Return showing the names of prisons in Great Britain and Ireland in which bare planks were in use as beds for ordinary offenders 1175 previous to the Government taking over the management of the prisons into their own hands; and, whether he will be good enough to obtain, through the Foreign and Colonial Offices, Returns showing in what Foreign Countries or Colonies such planks for ordinary offenders are in use in the prisons?
MR. ASSHETON CROSSSir, I had hoped to be able to reply at once as to the number of prisons in which planks are used; but, unfortunately, the Return has not yet come down to me. Plank beds were in most liberal use in the prisons long before they were passed over to the Government. I would refer the hon. Gentleman to the origin of the plank bed system. It was started in general use after the Report of the Committee of the House of Lords in 1863. That Committee found they had been introduced generally in military prisons, and recommended that they should be introduced into the civil prisons; and it was in consequence of that Report that the prisons throughout the country adopted the plank beds. With regard to foreign countries, I cannot answer the Question; but I believe that after the holding of the Prison Congress, which will take place in Stockholm in the course of the present year, I shall be able to give the information. When the Return I have already spoken of reaches me, I will be happy to lay it on the Table if the hon. Gentleman wishes.