MR. PATRICK O'BRIENI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, having in view the repugnance to the infliction of the indignity on children being born in prison, and the danger to the lives of both mothers and children, he will consider the advisability of so altering the Prison Rules as to permit the removal of all female prisoners to a public hospital during confinement?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. MATTHEWS,) Birmingham, E.I know of no sufficient reason for changing the present practice. A pregnant woman is always released from prison where, in the opinion of the medical officer, her confinement in prison would be attended with risk to her life or to that of the child. Women confined in prison are attended to in the prison infirmary, where they find as much care and medical skill as in a public hospital. It is not so much the place of birth as the conviction of the mother 349 which involves what the hon. Member describes as an indignity.
MR. PATRICK O'BRIENIs the right hon. Gentleman not aware that a very strong opinion found expression in the Press in relation to a recent case against the indignity of a child being born in gaol? Can the right hon. Gentleman say to what class those women belonged to whom he referred on a former occasion as having been released under these circumstances?
§ MR. MATTHEWSI mentioned twelve, I think, and these all belonged to the humbler classes, women convicted of theft and such offences. I am quite aware of the feeling to which the hon. Member alludes; but, as I have said, I think the conviction of the mother is more prejudicial to the future of the child than the mere place of birth.