§ MR. LABOUCHERE (Northampton)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether it is intended to grant the improvement in pay and allowances to prison warders who joined the service previous to the passing of the Prisons Act, 1877, which have been granted to those who joined after 1877; whether he is aware that in some prisons warders and other officers are on duty for over one hundred hours per week, this being, it is asserted, due to the system of sleeping in the prisons, under which men who have been on active duty for sixteen hours are confined to the prison all night, and during the night have to get up and attend to active duties; and whether he will inquire into this matter with a view to its remedy?
§ MR. MATTHEWSThe question of leveling up the pay and allowances of warblers who joined the service before 1877 is now before the Treasury, and a decision will shortly be arrived at. The average hours of active duty for warders is sixty-three hours a week. 1442 About once a week they are required to sleep in the prison, and they remain there from 8.30 p.m. till 6 a.m. the next morning, but during these hours they are not called upon to do active duty except in cases of emergency, which rarely occur. The grievance suggested in the hon. Member's question does not therefore exist.