§ 38. Mr. Wyattasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why he refuses permission to Patrick Peter George Victor Harlowe, a prisoner in Chelmsford Prison, to start divorce proceedings.
§ Sir D. Maxwell FyfePrisoners are not ordinarily allowed to institute legal proceedings. Exceptions to this rule are made only in special circumstances and I can find no grounds for making an exception in this case.
§ Mr. WyattWhy must the Home Secretary be so harsh in the exercise of his discretionary powers? I have sent him all the details of this case. Is not he aware that he would give this man a much better chance to start life afresh if he allowed him to go ahead with these proceedings?
§ Sir D. Maxwell FyfeI never like discussing the facts of individual cases in the House, but a similar application made by the same prisoner during an earlier sentence was refused, and he did nothing about divorce proceedings during his two years of liberty before his present sentence.