HC Deb 27 October 1909 vol 12 cc1001-3
Mr. SNOWDEN

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if, at the time of the release of Lady Constance Lytton and Mrs. Brailsford from Newcastle Gaol, the other suffragist prisoners were being fed by force; and whether, previously to the forced feeding, these other prisoners had been medically examined for heart disease?

The SECRETARY of STATE for the HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. Gladstone)

Some of the suffragist prisoners were received in Newcastle Prison on Saturday, the 9th October; others on the following Monday. Lady Constance Lytton and Mrs. Brailsford, who were received on the Monday, were discharged on Wednesday, and on that day it became necessary to feed five of the other prisoners. All the prisoners, eleven in number, were medically examined with the utmost care, and four of them, who were suffering from heart disease or showed symptoms of cardiac trouble, were released on the recommendation of the medical officers. I need hardly say there is not the slightest ground for the insinuations which are being freely made that Lady Constance Lytton was released because she was a peer's sister. She was released solely on medical grounds, as were the other three prisoners.

Mr. SNOWDEN

Was the medical examination to which the right hon. Gentleman refers made before these prisoners were forcibly fed?

Mr. GLADSTONE

Yes, in every case.

Mr. SNOWDEN

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that one of the released prisoners says she was not examined before she was forcibly fed, and one of the doctors said———

Mr. GLADSTONE

Which?

Mr. SNOWDEN

I cannot say for the moment, but I will supply the name to the right hon. Gentleman. One of the doctors said to the other: "Has her heart been examined?" and he replied, "No, it does not matter; go on with the feeding." Will the right hon. Gentleman inquire into that?

Mr. GLADSTONE

Certainly I will, but I have stated the facts.

Mr. KEIR HARDIE

Can the right hon. Gentleman state whether any of the ladies are being still forcibly fed in the Birmingham Prison?

Mr. GLADSTONE

I understand that is the case.

Mr. BYLES

Is there any reason for believing that these prisoners would take food in the natural way if they were placed in the First Division?

Mr. GLADSTONE

The contrary has been stated.

Mr. SNOWDEN

asked the right hon. Gentleman if the suffragist prisoners at Newcastle asked to be allowed to see their solicitor; if the solicitor himself applied to the Home Office for permission to see the prisoners; and, if permission was refused, what was the reason for the refusal?

Mr. GLADSTONE

Several of the prisoners referred to applied for permission to have visits from solicitors, and a firm of solicitors also applied for the same purpose; but the grounds stated did not bring the cases within the prison rules as to visits by legal advisers. I should have been disposed, in the special circumstances, to grant a visit outside the rules, but the fact that the prisoners who applied were due for release within a few days rendered this unnecessary.