§ 32. Mr. MORGAN JONESasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that convicts responsible for recent disturbances at Mahara Convict Prison, Ceylon, have, on the decision of two prison visitors, been punished by being ordered to wear for a month leg fetters weighing five pounds; and if he will inform the Ceylon Government that penalties of this nature, which have long been discarded in English prisons, should be abandoned in Ceylon, and that the aim should be to enable all prisoners serving sentences of more than a month to earn remission of sentence?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for the COLONIES (Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister)I have no information on the subject but am asking the Governor for a report. As regards the last part of the question, the Executive Committee of Home Affairs in Ceylon recently decided to recommend that the privilege of earning remission should be extended to prisoners with sentences of over one month. I am not aware whether this recommendation has yet been approved by the Ceylon State Council.
§ Mr. JONESWill the right hon. Gentleman take steps to see that this type of punishment shall be abrogated in Ceylon as being entirely out of date, whether it applies to these cases or not?
§ Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTERIn the first place, I think I should be very unwise to answer a question dealing with facts without knowing what the facts were, and in the second place I should like to consider whether this is not a matter that falls under the jurisdiction of the local State Council in Ceylon.