§ MR. RICHARD HAZLETON (Galway, N.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that in local prisons in Ireland and Scotland flogging as a method of punishment for certain breaches of prison discipline is not permitted under any circumstances and whether he will consider the advisability of having this prohibition extended to local prisons in England.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. GLADTONE,) Leeds, WYes, Sir. The facts as to the Scotch and Irish prisons were fully considered when the present arrangement was settled by Parliament in 1898; but it was felt that, in view of the much larger size of the English prisons and the different character of the prison population, it was necessary to maintain the power to inflict corporal punishment in a restricted class of cases. Corporal punishment can only be inflicted for mutiny or for gross personal violence to prison officers, only after inquiry on oath by the visiting committee, and only when the sentence has been confirmed by the Secretary of State. The general opinion of persons who have a good knowledge of the character of the English prison population—;and in this opinion I concur—;is that this restricted power used only in extreme cases is necessary to protect from danger to life and limb the officers who are exposed to savage attack.