HC Deb 02 August 1956 vol 557 cc1577-8
23. Mr. K. Thompson

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is aware that there is evidence that overcrowding and understaffing are factors in recent attacks by prisoners on prison warders; and if he will cause a prison-by-prison investigation to be made so that the load is evenly distributed until ameliorative measures can be made effective.

Mr. Deedes

While it is true that both understaffing and overcrowding aggravate the difficulties of administration, my right hon. and gallant Friend is not aware that either has directly contributed to any recent assault by a prisoner on an officer in any of the 19 cases of assaults on officers which Governors have considered serious enough to report to the Commissioners since 1st January last. If the hon. Member will let my right hon. and gallant Friend know which particular attacks he has in mind, he will be happy to look into the circumstances more closely. The allocation of prisoners and staff to prisons is under continuous adjustment to ensure an even distribution of resources.

Mr. Thompson

Is my hon. Friend aware that discipline in an overcrowded prison is virtually impossible, and that certainly no good can be done to the prisoners in the reformative sense in a prison which is so overcrowded that the small staff has no possible chance of helping individual prisoners? Will he therefore try to arrange as even a distribution of prisoners as possible?

Mr. Deedes

I accept that. If he will let us know which particular cases of assault he has in mind, we will be very glad to look into them.