HC Deb 03 March 1955 vol 537 cc2229-31
26. Lieut.-Colonel Lipton

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department to what extent strait jackets are still used in prisons; and how often they are used for the additional restraint of prisoners.

Major Lloyd-George

In 1953, the latest for which figures are available, the number of prisoners to whom the canvas restraint jacket was applied was 109. The circumstances in which mechanical restraints may be used, and the conditions governing their use, are set out in the Prison Rules. I am sending the hon. and gallant Member a copy of the relevant rule.

Lieut-Colonel Lipton

Is the right hon. and gallant Gentleman aware that this form of restraint has been dispensed with at Broadmoor for a long time? How can it be done without at Broadmoor and still be regarded as necessary in the prisons for which the right hon. and gallant Gentleman is responsible?

Major Lloyd-George

I suppose that I have responsibility everywhere. The fact is that the governor is the person to decide whether it is necessary or not.

27. Lieut-Colonel Lipton

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what injuries were suffered by a prisoner at Winchester Gaol, of whom details have been forwarded, after he had been placed in a strait jacket; and how these injuries were caused.

Major Lloyd-George

This prisoner was placed in a body belt, not a restraint jacket, after being forcibly removed to a special cell following a serious assault on an officer. Shortly afterwards he asked to see the prison medical officer, who found that he had a cut on the back of the head and some bruising of the shoulders. How he came to sustain these slight injuries is not clear. A little later a prison officer, on entering the cell, was attacked by the prisoner, who tried to kick him, and in self defence hit him on the head with his stave. The prisoner sustained two cuts, from one to two inches long, which had to be stitched.

Lieut-Colonel Lipton

Will the right hon. and gallant Gentleman explain how it comes about that, after being placed in the body belt, this prisoner was hit over the head with a truncheon and sustained two cuts in the head, one of two inches and another of one and a half inches, which had to be stitched? I admit that this prisoner was a difficult case, but is there not something a little repugnant about a man being hit over the head with a truncheon after he has been strapped down?

Major Lloyd-George

I do not think that the hon. and gallant Gentleman quite realises what a body belt is. With a body belt the feet and legs are completely free—as this man found out—and when the officer came in the prisoner tried to kick him. If the kick had landed it would have been a very serious matter. The officer had to use his stave, and that was perhaps the cause of the two cuts which the prisoner had to have stitched. The hon. and gallant Gentleman says that he may have been a difficult man. I would say that that is a triumph of understatement. He was a very violent and dangerous prisoner.

Mr. Smithers

Can my right hon. and gallant Friend inform me whether, as a result of investigations made into this incident—which occurred in my constituency—he can say that no blame attaches to the prison staff in this matter?

Major Lloyd-George

I cannot add to what I have just said. As my hon. Friend will appreciate, there is bound to be a conflict of evidence in cases of this sort. We have made every inquiry we can, and I have given to the House the facts as they were ascertained. As I say, the prisoner was an extremely violent and dangerous person.