§ 23. Major CHRISTOPHER LOWTHERasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what opportunities are given to the relatives of condemned persons to see them before execution; and, if such opportunities are given, what rules apply to the visits?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for the HOME DEPARTMENT (Colonel Sir Hamar Greenwood)Such visits are allowed. Prison Rule No. 95 provides that a prisoner under sentence of death may be visited by such relations, friends, and legal advisers as he desires to see and are authorised to visit him by a member of the Prison Visiting Committee.
§ 24. Major LOWTHERasked the Home Secretary what length of time is allowed to elapse between the decision to carry out a sentence of death and the execution; and whether this lapse of time is governed by any Home Office order or by custom?
§ Sir H. GREENWOODThe Criminal Appeal Act, 1907, provides that a sentence of death shall not be executed until the expiration of the time (ten days) within which notice of appeal may be given. Subject to this, it is the duty of the sheriff to fix the date of execution. The Home Office has advised that it should be fixed for a day in the week following the 3rd Sunday after the passing of the sentence, or, if there is an appeal, from fourteen to eighteen days after the dismissal of an appeal.
§ Major LOWTHERMay I ask the hon. Baronet on what principle this lapse of time is allowed to take place. Is it so that the condemned man may repent, or so that the High Sheriff shall make sufficient arrangements for the execution?
§ Sir H. GREENWOODThe delay is considered a decent delay in the interests of the prisoner and his friends, and it is also designed to give the sheriff an opportunity of preparing for the gruesome event.