§ MR. M. DAVITT (Mayo, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) in how many convict prisons are corrugated iron cells still retained for the incarceration of prisoners undergoing sentences of penal servitude; (2) whether the average width of such cells is under five feet, the average length about seven feet, and the average height under eight feet; (3) how many of such cells are in use at the present time in Portland and Dartmoor Prisons; and (4) whether these cells have been condemned by competent medical authority as detrimental to the health of prisoners?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENTThe answer to the first paragraph is three—Borstal, Dartmoor, and Portland; to the second in the affirmative, except with regard to the Borstal cells, which are longer; to the third, 901. The cells at Borstal number 500. Steps have been in progress for some time for replacing these cells by stone cells, which will come up to modern requirements in all respects. Meanwhile, when possible, two cells are being converted into one. Some delay, which is to be regretted, has, owing to various causes, occurred in carrying out the work, but it will be pushed on as rapidly is possible.