§ MR. TOMLINSONI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether several of Her Majesty's prisons, being without Governors, are in charge of chief warders; whether he can state how many prisons are in this condition, and how they are distributed; whether chief warders when in charge are treated as belonging to the subordinate or superior staff of Her Majesty's prisons; and what are the relative positions in rank of a Deputy Governor and a chief warder in charge of a prison?
§ MR. ASQUITHThe answer to the first paragraph is in the affirmative. With regard to the second paragraph 1796 there are 22 prisons in this condition, all of which have a population of 100 or less. These prisons are distributed all over the country. With regard to the third paragraph, the chief warder in charge is a superior officer in accordance with the Prisons Act of 1865, under which (by Section 4 and Schedule 1, Regulation 104) the gaoler is a superior officer, gaoler being defined to mean, Governor, keeper, or other chief officer. With regard to the fourth paragraph, I am informed that there is no prison in which there is a chief warder in charge and also a Deputy Governor, so that their relative rank does not come under consideration.