§ 20. Mr. Collinsasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if, having regard to the fact that prisoners on the escape list are deprived of their clothing at night and are subject to other safety restrictions, he will cancel the instruction requiring that lights in their cells be kept burning all night.
§ Mr. R. A. ButlerNo, Sir. It is essential that a regular watch should be kept on these prisoners during the night, and the use of a dimmed light enables this to be done without disturbing prisoners by frequent opening of cell doors.
§ Mr. CollinsIs the Home Secretary aware that men who merely escaped from 536 magistrates' courts before sentence have been for two years on the escape list? Does he not think that a 25-watt bulb burning over their heads all the time is torture by light? Is not that totally at variance with his conception and hopes of what should be done in prisons, and will he look at the matter again?
§ Mr. ButlerI will certainly look at it again, but prisoners are not kept on the escape list longer than we can help.