HC Deb 17 June 1931 vol 253 cc1729-30
29. Mr. ORMSBY-GORE

asked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been called to the unsatisfactory condition of the central gaol in Nairobi, Kenya, where, though there are now 600 prisoners serving long-term sentences, the gaol building only provides permanent accommodation for 350; whether he is aware that the medical authorities have called attention to the bad lighting and ventilation of these permanent buildings, that the health of the prisoners is appreciably poorer than in other colonial central gaols, and that the incidence of tuberculosis is rising; will he state how many deaths among prisoners due to this latter disease have been recorded during the past three years; and what action he proposes to take to remedy this state of affairs?

Mr. LUNN

My Noble Friend is aware of the unsatisfactory conditions at the Nairobi prison to which the local medical authorities have drawn attention from time to time, but the fact that there had already been a general improvement and the steps contemplated to secure further improvements were explained in the reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Motherwell (Mr. Barr) on the 26th of November, 1930, of which I am sending the right hon. Member a copy. Since that date approval has been given for the inclusion of a sum of £95,000 for prison accommodation in the schedule of further loan requirements of the Government of Kenya. The number of deaths from tuberculosis at Nairobi prison in 1928 and 1929 was 10 in each year. My Noble Friend is not yet in possession of the corresponding statistics for 1930, nor of the report of the special investigation which has been undertaken into the incidence of that disease.