§ MR. REDMONDasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If it is true that prisoners detained under the Coercion Act in Naas Gaol are forbidden to shake hands with their visitors; whether Naas is the only Gaol in Ireland in which this rule exists; whether this rule has been made by directions of the Prisons Board, or by the authority of the governor; and, whether he will at once direct that it be no longer enforced?
§ MR. W. E. FORSTERIn reply to the Question of the hon. Member, I may say that I had not heard of the rule he has mentioned. I have made inquiries, and I find that it is the case in Naas Gaol that prisoners are not permitted to shake hands but with their immediate relatives, and that at no other prison does the same rule exist. The rule appears to have been made under the direction of the Prisons Board in consequence of some abuse of the privilege. My own opinion is that the exceptional rule should not exist, and I will communicate with the Prisons Board on the subject.
§ MR. REDMONDfurther asked, Whether it is a fact that Mr. Edward J. Hoare, at present detained under the Coercion Act in Naas Gaol, has been refused permission to see his own 491 medical attendant, although suffering from valvular disease of the heart; and, if so, upon what grounds such a refusal was made?
§ MR. W. E. FORSTER, in reply, said, that Mr. Hoare had not been refused permission to see his medical attendant; but the surgeon of Naas Gaol having stated that he was not in danger, and that he considered a consultation unnecessary, no other medical gentleman had been called in. He had since further certified that there had been a considerable improvement in Mr. Hoare's health.
§ MR. REDMONDalso asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether his attention has been called to complaints made by Mr. P. J. Gordon, a prisoner in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, as to his treatment by the medical attendant, Dr. Young; whether it is true that Mr. Gordon's leg was broken shortly before his term of imprisonment commenced, that he is still unable to walk except with the aid of crutches, and that he has been refused bandages and liniment by the medical attendant, who has declined to prescribe for him in any way; and, whether he will cause an investigation to be made into this matter?
§ MR. W. E. FORSTER, in reply, said, it was true that this prisoner's leg had been broken; but it was not the fact that he had been refused bandages and liniment by the medical attendant. On the contrary, he had been supplied with them, and had been treated in every way properly, and allowed every consideration which the circumstances of the case demanded.