§ MR. J. A. PEASE (Northumberland, Tyneside)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he can state how many persons are at present detained as debtors in Her Majesty's gaols, whether under the prison rules such persons are obliged to wear prison uniform, and whether their treatment as to food, exercise, and such matters differs in any particular from those convicted of criminal offences.
§ * THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Sir M. WHITE RIDLEY,) Lancashire, BlackpoolThere were 474 male and eleven female debtors in custody on the 17th instant. Debtors are permitted to wear their own clothing unless it is unfit for use, in which case they wear the same uniform as prisoners awaiting trial whose clothes are unfit for use. They have the same food as offenders of the first division, and are allowed to exercise twice a day. Generally speaking, their treatment differs in almost every particular from that of convicted prisoners.