HC Deb 24 April 1882 vol 268 cc1254-5
MR. REDMOND

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ire- land, "Whether it is a fact that, although there are only two suspects in Grangegorman Prison, visitors are sometimes kept twenty minutes waiting before they can see their friends; no other visitor being in the Gaol; whether the air in the visiting cells is so bad that visitors have, on almost all occasions, made complaints on the subject; whether the cells are so cold that the suspects complain they have to take off their boots and lie under the bed clothes for warmth from 8 o'clock till bed time at 10 o'clock; whether it is a fact that the exercise ground consists of a small cottage garden; whether it is a fact that, when a suspect desires to take a bath, he must go down to the convicts' apartments and use their bath; whether it is a fact that there is no hospital in the prison, and not even a room with a fire in which sick persons might lie up; whether the association room is connected with the only closet in the gaol; whether this closet, frequently getting out of order, the atmosphere in the association room is not sometimes abominable; and, whether he will at once have these complaints inquired into?

MR. W. E. FORSTER

, in reply, said, that three persons were detained as "suspects" in this prison. Visitors to them were never kept so long as 20 minutes before they saw their friends. The architect had reported that the air in the cells was good, that they were well ventilated, and kept at a fair temperature. The baths used by the "suspects" had never been used by convicts, and the sanitary arrangements of the gaol were in good order.