§ 1. Mr. Brockwayasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make new arrangements for visits to prisoners so that they no longer take place in boxes with glass partitions between visitor and prisoner.
§ The Secretary of State for the Home Department and Lord Privy Seal (Mr. R. A. Butler)Much progress has been made in providing pleasant visiting rooms, and this will continue wherever accommodation is available. In all prisons, visits in cubicles with glass partitions are, so far as possible, restricted to unconvicted prisoners and others for whom this precaution is thought necessary.
§ Mr. BrockwayWould the right hon. Gentleman go in disguise to one of the prisons—
§ Mr. G. ThomasHe has been.
§ Mr. Brockway—and see this barbarity for himself? Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that it is not the case that this method is limited to unconvicted prisoners? Can he imagine what it is like with a row of these open boxes with a glass barrier between prisoner and visitor wishing to speak of intimacies, a babel of shouting because they cannot hear, the woman leaning against the glass because she cannot say a word? Will the right hon. Gentleman look into this situation?
§ Mr. ButlerI have been to look for myself, and I think that is the right thing to do, but I shall always go undisguised. The position is that much progress has been made, but not enough. I confess, and that we try to restrict this inconvenience to unconvicted prisoners for reasons which we must maintain. I have said "so far as possible." The hon. Gentleman is right in saying that it is not in every case. All we can do is to make progress with this and other prison reforms as soon as we can.