§ 23. Mr. M'GUFFINasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland how many sections of the Belfast Prison have been damaged and rendered uninhabitable by the violence of the Sinn Fein prisoners detained there; whether the damage took place in the presence of the responsible officials of the prison; why the soldiers and police who were present at the time were not utilised to prevent such destruction; whether it is a fact that, these mutinous Sinn Fein prisoners were at the time being specially fed by direction of the prison authorities; what is the cost of their maintenance up to the present; and what is the monetary value of the damage done to the prison wings in question by the uncontrolled violence of these men?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONThree of the blocks of Belfast Prison allocated for special prisoners were damaged. The damage took place in the presence of the officials of the prison. Steps were taken as far as possible to prevent such damage. These prisoners were being specially fed, as, owing to a serious outbreak of influenza, it was necessary to convert the prison itself into a hospital, and it was whilst these prisoners were convalescent hospital 594 patients, and therefore not under the customary penal conditions, they elected to mutiny and damage public property. The cost of maintenance of the Sinn Fein prisoners in Belfast Prison in the period from 1st April, 1918, to 1st March, 1919, was £4,44918s. It is not possible to give an estimate of the actual value of damage done.
§ Mr. M'GUFFINIs this policy still being pursued in the administration of the Belfast Prison, and is it consonant with the general policy which the Government intends to pursue in the treatment of prisoners in Ireland?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONI have just received Mr. Justice Dodd's Report, and am considering what attitude I shall adopt in regard to the matter.