§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that the ladies sentenced to various terms of imprisonment in connection with the agitation for woman suffrage are not merely compelled to wear clothes in prison which have been worn previously by ordinary women convicts, but am likewise deprived of their boots and shoes and compelled to wear boots worn many times by ordinary women convicts, which, of course, cannot be boiled or washed, like the clothes, and the inside of which is at times in a filthy condition; whether he is aware that these boots and shoes are frequently too largo or too small for the wearers, and in both cases entail extreme discomfort, resulting in corns and blisters on the feet, followed by abrasion of the skin, bleeding, and sores, and that at times the feet of the prisoners have been pierced by nails sticking up in these boots and shoes; and whether, having regard to the fact that the enforced wearing of the prison dress secures the infliction of indignity, these ladies may be allowed, having regard 1487 to the pain and discomfort caused by the wearing of prison boots and shoes, to wear their own boots and shoes during their imprisonment.
§ MR. HERBERT SAMUELAll the clothing issued to the ladies who are undergoing imprisonment was either new or clean, and new shoes were issued in every case. If one of them complains that her shoes do not fit, or that they cause blisters, the shoes will be immediately changed, but no such complaint has been made.
§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLIs the hon. Gentleman aware that these ladies make no complaint?
§ MR. HERBERT SAMUELI fail to see how grievances can be remedied unless they are brought to the notice of the authorities.