§ MR. WARMINGTON (Monmouth, W.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he can inform the House whether the apartment in Holloway Prison now occupied by the Dowager Duchess of Sutherland is one usually occupied by persons imprisoned for contempt of Court; whether the fitting up of the said apartment, the permission to provide for her own entertainment and to receive visits from her friends, and other privileges enjoyed by Her Grace, are due to any relaxation of the rules of the prison applicable to ordinary cases of imprisonment for contempt of Court; and whether he can state by whose authority such relaxation, if any, was ordered, and on what grounds?
§ MR. A. C. MORTON (Peterborough)I beg to ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he can say on what grounds special indulgences have been granted to the Dowager Duchess of Sutherland in Holloway Gaol, especially the relaxation of the prison regulations by the visiting justices; and whether those indulgences will in future be allowed to all prisoners committed as first-class misdemeanants?
§ MR. LOUGH (Islington, W.)I beg to ask the right hon. Gentleman also if he will explain by whose authority a prisoner recently sentenced to six weeks' imprisonment in Holloway Gaol has had a special apartment in the prison luxuriously fitted up in plush, with carpets, curtains, cushions, mirrors, and flowers, is permitted to be attended by her own maids and medical attendants, to receive the visits of her friends at all hours, to take exercise apart from the other prisoners, and to have her meals sumptuously provided; whether he is aware that she brought eight boxes of personal luggage with her to gaol; and whether any first-class misdemeanant is accorded these privileges; and, if not, why were they granted in this case?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. ASQUITH,) Fife, E.By Section 41 of the Prisons Act, 1877, persons imprisoned for contempt of Court are to be treated, not as criminal prisoners, but as misdemeanants of the first division. Rules were made in February, 1878, by the 1296 Secretary of State, under the authority of the Prisons Act, 1865 and 1877, to regulate the treatment of misdemeanants of the first division. By those Rules, which have never been altered and are always observed in such cases, prisoners of this class are to be confined in a cell or room specially appropriated to them, and are not to be placed in association or at exercise with criminal prisoners. The Visiting Committee are empowered to permit such prisoners to have at their own cost the use of private furniture and utensils suitable to their ordinary habits, and to have for certain purposes the assistance of a servant appointed by the Governor. They may further supply their own food, subject to such restrictions as may be necessary to prevent luxury or waste, and wear their own clothing. The Visiting Committee may also accord them the privilege of receiving visitors to a reasonable extent. In the present case the ordinary Rules have been followed. The prisoner has been permitted by the Visiting Committee to provide her own furniture, and has been placed in the only room which is used where a similar permission has been ranted. I am told that the furniture is not excessive or unduly luxurious. Her meals are supplied at her own cost, and are reported not to be sumptuous or extravagant. She takes exercise as the Rules require apart from the criminal prisoners. She is not attended by her own maids and medical attendants. She brought with her, not eight boxes, but three, which contained, amongst other things, her bedding. The only visits which she has been allowed have been two, her visitors being her mother and two brothers and a private secretary, and she has received them in a suitable room and in the sight and hearing of a prison officer. An application by her for permission to see further visitors will be considered by the Visiting Committee at their next meeting. I see no reason to believe that the Rules have been violated, or that the Visiting Committee have accorded larger privileges than are usual in such cases.