HC Deb 15 March 1897 vol 47 cc658-9
MR. PICKERSGILL

I beg to ask the right hon. Gentleman the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that a convict under-going the preliminary stage of his term has, for a period of nine months, to work, eat and sleep in one small cell, in which he is confined for 23 hours out of every 24, at all seasons of the year; whether he is aware that several principal officers of prisons have described this confinement as excessive, and as producing injurious results, both moral and physical; and whether he will confer with the Prison Commissioners with a view to the granting to this class of prisoners of more than one hour's exercise per diem?

THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Sir MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEY,) Lancashire, Blackpool

I am aware that a convict under sentence of penal servitude, with the exception of his daily attendance at chapel and hour of exercise, passes the first nine months of his sentence in separate confinement. I believe the hon. Member to be misinformed as to the opinions held by the principal officers of the prisons in which convicts are received with regard to the effects of this confinement. The amount of exercise necessary for the health of each prisoner is left by statute to be determined by the prison surgeon, and I am perfectly content that, under that statute, the surgeons should exercise a liberal discretion.

MR. PICKERSGILL

asked the right hon. Gentleman whether he was aware that Captain Johnson, the Governor of Dartmoor Prison, had condemned the system of separate confinement for nine months before the Departmental Committee which inquired into the matter?

SIR MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEY

said he had no doubt the hon. Member was correct in what he stated, but he was not aware of the fact.

MR. A. O'CONNOR (Donegal, E.)

asked whether the right hon. Gentleman would make himself acquainted with the evidence placed before the Departmental Committee?

SIR MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEY

said he was perfectly ready to do so, but the question of the amount of exercise necessary for the health of each prisoner was left by statute to the discretion of the prison surgeon, who, he thought, should be allowed a liberal interpretation.