§ MR. SAMUEL SMITH (Flintshire)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether it is the case that in Portland Prison flogging is sometimes carried on in a room where none are allowed to enter except the prisoner and the whipper; and whether it is the case that prisoners sometimes receive more than the number of lashes that have been awarded to them?
§ MR. MATTHEWSThe answer to both paragraphs is in the negative. Corporal punishment at Portland Prison is carried out in a corridor away from the cells, and in the presence of the governor, medical officer, and six discipline officers, besides the two officers who inflict the punishment. The number of lashes or strokes ordered has, I am informed by the Director of Convict Prisons, never been exceeded.