HC Deb 25 June 1888 vol 327 c1142
MR. W. A. MACDONALD (Queen's Co., Ossory)

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether the treadmill is still employed in the prisons of the United Kingdom; whether this form of hard labour has long since been condemned by prison reformers as cruel and unprofitable; and, whether he will consider the feasibility of substituting for it a kind of labour at once useful and more humane?

THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. MATTHEWS) (Birmingham, E.)

Yes, Sir; the treadmill is still employed, as it is enjoined by the provisions of the Prison Act, 1865. I am not aware that this form of hard labour has been condemned as cruel and unprofitable. Whenever it is possible, the labour is utilized for the purpose of pumping or grinding; so it cannot be called useless, and I do not think it is inhumane.