§ MR. MACNEILLI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been directed to a letter from John Roche, M.D., D. S. Sc., which appeared in the 430 Medical Press and Circular in September last, stating that the pallor, tremor, loss of eyesight, and affections of the eyes, which supervene in many cases after-admission to a large number of gaols in Ireland, can be traced to the insufficient, aeration of the cells; is it a fact that the majority of the prison cells in Ireland are under 11 feet high, and without a chimney; and whether, having regard to the fact that there are cells in Tullamore and Derry Gaols nine feet by six feet by 10 feet high, and without fireplace or chimney, he will give directions to the Prisons-Board to see that no prisoner in future will occupy a cell with defective ventilation, and to make such alteration in the space and aeration of prison cells as will render them fit for habitation?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURFrom a Report received from the medical member of the General Prisons Board it appears that the letter in question was written under a misapprehension of the facts Neither does there appear to be any testimony as to the alleged injurious effects in many cases of imprisonment in Ireland. On the contrary, the health conditions of Irish prisons bear favourable comparison with English and Scotch prisons, and with public institutions generally. The facts are as stated in the second paragraph, but the conclusion drawn in the letter that the cells are thereby rendered unfit for habitation is groundless. The aeration of a cell is not measured solely by its height, but by its cubic contents. And in no modern prison in the United Kingdom, so far as the Irish Prisons Board know, are cells built with a fireplace and chimney, a means of heating and ventilation being otherwise provided. The cubic space in some of the cells in a few of the prisons is less than is desirable; and their improvement in this regard has been for some time engaging the attention of the Board. This applies to the case of Londonderry Prison, but not to that of Tullamore, the cells in which measure 14 feet long by six feet wide by nine feet high, and. contain 756 cubic feet of space, which is over the standard required by the most modern ideas.