§ MR. PICKERSGILL (Bethnal Green, N.E.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has any objection to grant a Return showing to what extent effect has been given to the 16 recommendations contained in the Report of the Committee which in 1888, under the presidency of Mr. Justice Wills, inquired into the accommodation provided for prisoners in the police courts of the Metropolis?
§ MR. ASQUITHI am desirous to give the hon. Member all the information I can; but a mere Return would be of little service, and I think the best course would be for him to communicate with me at the Home Office stating precisely the information he requires.
§ MR. PICKERSGILLI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been drawn to the observations, on Saturday last, of Mr. Justice Mathew, on the trial of an action to recover damages for malicious prosecution, to the effect that the plaintiff, on his arrest by the police, had been thrown into an abominable dog-hole where vermin abounded, and that he (the learned Judge) knew of many cases in which not only men, but delicate women had gone through similar experiences; and whether he will cause inquiry to be made as to the condition of the cells at Metropolitan police stations, in which persons presumably innocent are liable to be confined?
§ MR. ASQUITHI am informed by the Commissioner of Police that the prisoner was put in a cell at Tottenham Court Road Police Station at 8.30 p.m. on November 15, and remained there until 9.20 a.m. on the 16th. Ho at no time made any complaint to the police as to vermin or anything else; in fact, he wrote a note to his wife, who called at the station while he was in the cells, to the effect that he was all right, and that the police were doing their best to make him comfortable. These cells are cleaned daily; a solution of Sanitas is always used immediately after prisoners leave, and if there were any complaint of vermin immediate steps would at once be taken to have the cell fumigated. An Inspector visits the cells daily, and frequent visits are also made by someone from the Surveyor's Department. The cells are also from time to time inspected by the Superintendent of the Division, the Chief Constable of the district, and by the Assistant-Commissioner, or Commissioners when they visit a station. Every care is taken to keep the cells clean. The observations appear to have been made by the learned Judge on an assertion by Sellman, who made no complaint to the police, and they had no opportunity of refuting his unsupported statement. Some of the cells at Tottenham Court Road, it is true, are not modern, but, in the opinion of the Commissioners, they cannot reasonably be described as "abominable dogholes."