§ MR. JOHN HUTTON (Yorkshire, Richmond)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many county prisons are supplied with prison vans for the conveyance of prisoners; and, whether he will direct the Prison Commissioners to supply such vans to all prisons, so as to avoid the 107 necessity of obliging un-convicted and convicted prisoners, male and female, to walk handcuffed and chained from the railway stations to the prisons?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Sir MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEY, Lancashire, Blackpool)Thirty-three out of the 56 local prisons are supplied with vans, and in all cases of conveyance of prisoners for which the Prison Commissioners are responsible, with only a few exceptions, the prisoners are conveyed either in these vans or in vehicles hired for the purpose. The few exceptions referred to, in which prisoners walk, are cases in which the distance is a few yards only. Possibly the cases which the hon. Member has in his mind are cases for which the Prison Commissioners are not responsible, but the police.