§ MR. T. LOUGHI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that a boy of 18, named William Cooper, certified by the doctor as fit to be placed on the tread-wheel, was found dead in his cell at Norwich Gaol on 15th October last, although he had not previously been ill, after being subjected for a few days to the 1209 work; whether there have been other inquests on deaths arising from a similar cause; and whether, under these circumstances, and seeing that the late Prison Committee condemned the continuance of unproductive prison labour, the prison authorities of the Home Office intend to sanction the erection of new treadwheels?
§ THE HOME SECRETARYI thoroughly inquired into this case at the time, and found there was no reason for supposing that this prisoner's death was the result of his work on the tread-wheel. The post-mortem examination revealed latent disease of old standing. There has been no similar case so far as I am aware. Treadwheels are not necessarily, or in all cases, unproductive, but unproductive treadwheels which cannot be made productive are being gradually abolished, and the erection of new treadwheels is not at present contemplated.