MR. MAC NEILLI beg to ask the Solicitor General for Ireland whether he is aware that a woman named Rose Trainer, residing near Draperstown, was sentenced lately to a month's imprisonment in Derry Gaol for attempting to take possession of a piece of land from which she had been evicted some time ago; that she was released from prison on the 1st instant, and came home ill; that the medical officer of the district was called in to see her immediately on her arrival, and has since pronounced her to be suffering from typhoid fever contracted in Derry Gaol; that she was removed on Saturday last to the fever hospital of the union workhouse, Magherafelt, where she now is; and, whether he will consider the propriety of closing this prison, having regard to the danger to the lives of those incarcerated within its walls in its present pestilential condition?
§ MR. M'CARTANput a question to the same effect and asked whether, under the circumstances, the Government would lay upon the Table of the House the Confidential Report of the doctor to the Prisons Board?
§ * MR. MADDENRose Trainer was committed to Londonderry Prison on July 6 on a charge of assault and trespass. The medical officer of the prison reports during the period of her imprisonment she never complained of any illness and was in good health when discharged on August 3. The Governor reports that she refused to proceed to her place of conviction (Draperstown) by rail on the date of her discharge, stating that she had some friends she wished to remain with in Londonderry City, but how long she actually remained there he is not aware. From a telegram received, it appears that yesterday she was still ill at her home with typhoid fever and that she was visited for the first time on the 16th instant by the local doctor, who recommended her removal to the union hospital.
§ MR. T. M. HEALYHas the hon. and learned Gentleman seen a certificate from a local doctor which states that at the time of the woman's release from prison she was suffering from typhoid fever?
§ * MR. MADDENNo; I believe she was visited for the first time by a local doctor on the 16th.
§ MR. T. M. HEALYI have Dr. Haggerty's certificate to that effect in my pocket, and I will put a further question on Thursday.
§ MR. SEXTONHad the germs of typhoid fever manifested themselves at the time of the woman's release from prison?
§ * MR. MADDENAll the doctor to the gaol says is that there were no symptoms of any disease at the date of her release.