§ MR. MACDONALD (Tower Hamlets, Bow)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether Amelia Gifford, who was recently sentenced by Sir Peter Edlin to 21 days' imprisonment for intimidation, and who was released on Saturday the 19th of May by his special order, was during her imprisonment given a daily task of 2 lbs. of oakum to pick, which is the task given to prisoners sentenced to hard labour; whether prisoners sentenced to 1403 simple imprisonment are, according to the Prison Rules, compelled only to keep their cells in order; and whether, if the facts are as stated, he will take steps to prevent a similar infringement of the Rules in future?
§ MR. ASQUITH(1) The Governor of Holloway Prison reports that the prisoner Amelia Gifford was not given a daily task of 2 lbs. of oakum to pick, but 1½ lbs., of which she picked a reasonable quantity for a learner, and to which she made no objection. She was not always employed at this work, but occasionally cleaned cells, &c. (2) By the Prison Act, 1865, Schedule 1, Regulation 38, provision is to be made for the employment of all convicted criminal prisoners not sentenced to hard labour, and the instructions to Governors are that such prisoners may be employed at any work of a manufacturing or industrial nature, and that the amount they should be expected to perform should be according to any scale which may be from time to time prescribed for general use. The scale of oakum picking now in force is: for women who are not accustomed to the work, 1½ lbs.; for women accustomed to the work, 2 lbs.