§ 49. Captain BRISCOE (for Sir WILLIAM DAVISON)asked the Home Secretary if he can make a statement to the House as to recent events at Dart-moor prison; and what action has been taken in the matter?
§ Sir J. GILMOURI am obliged to my hon. Friend for giving me an opportunity to make a statement on this subject. As regards the two convicts who escaped from the prison on the 16th November, and were recaptured on the 22nd November, I have received from, the Prison Commissioners and am now considering the report of an inquiry into the circumstances in which these two men succeeded in breaking out of prison. With regard to events at the prison since the two convicts were recaptured, a number of misleading statements have appeared in the public Press. It is true that on the November the Governor was assaulted by one of the convicts referred to, but apart from this and certain complaints about food, there has been no abnormal incident or indication of unrest. Misleading inferences appear to have been drawn from the facts that during the Governor's temporary absence on leave, his place has been taken by the Deputy-Governor of Pentonville, and that certain vacancies in the established staff have been filled in the ordinary course by the transfer of probationers from the training school.