§ Mr. KEIR HARDIEI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department a question, of which I have given private notice, namely: How many women prisoners there are at present for offences connected with the agitation for the enfranchisement of women; whether any of these are being artificially fed; and whether any are in hospital?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for the HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. McKenna)Fifteen women suffragist prisoners are now in prison, of whom ten are taking their food, three are being fed by tube, and one by cup, and one, who was received into prison last night, is refusing to take her food. Seven are in the prison infirmary—one on account of illness, two for purposes of observation, and four to facilitate the process of feeding. With the consent of the House, I should be glad to take this opportunity of giving full particulars as to the suffragist prisoners received into prison since the beginning of the year. They number fifty-five, including four men. Of these, thirty-two were released on expiration of sentence, or on payment of fine, or on bail at expiration of remand. Three of these thirty-two were fed forcibly; all the others took their food. Fifteen women, as I have already stated, and one man, are still in prison. There remain seven prisoners who have been released out of ordinary course because they refused food and were suffering from serious illness—four from heart disease, one from pleurisy, one from tuberculosis, and one was a paralytic, with a weak heart. Two of these prisoners were untried and may be rearrested.
§ Mr. KEIR HARDIEWith regard to the prisoner who is in the infirmary, owing to illness, is the illness serious, and is there any intention to release her?
§ Mr. McKENNAI must have notice of that question.