§ MR. EDWARD DUNN (Cornwall, Camborne)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if his attention has been called to the fact that two lads, charged with sleeping out, were sentenced on Monday last to one month's hard labour by the Penzance justices; and, if the sentence and crime be as stated, he will order their immediate release.
§ MR. GLADSTONEMy attention had not previously been called to the case; 1415 but I have made inquiries and find that the prisoners referred to, who are eighteen and nineteen years of age, respectively, have been sentenced as stated in the Question. I find that both prisoners had been previously convicted, and that the justices in dealing with the case took into consideration the characters of the prisoners, their refusal to work, and their circumstances generally, and were guided in the sentence passed by the recommendations of the inter - Departmental Committee on Vagrancy (pars. 189–92), who strongly advised that to sentence tramps to very short terms of imprisonment was worse than useless. In the circumstances, I regret that I do not feel myself justified in advising His Majesty to interfere with the sentence imposed by the justices.