HC Deb 20 April 1961 vol 638 cc1369-70
19. Mr. Driberg

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has now been able to make special arrangements for refractory prisoners who hitherto have had to be segregated in solitary confinement; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. R. A. Butler

Yes, Sir. I have decided to set aside a small wing in Brixton prison for the reception of prisoners whose record of violence in prison makes it imprudent to allow them to associate with other prisoners in normal conditions. These prisoners, who have hitherto had to be kept in solitary confinement, sometimes for long periods, will be allowed a degree of association under careful supervision. They will receive special attention from the medical officer and the psychologist and, although discipline will be strict, every attempt will be made to give the régime a diagnostic and therapeutic bias. The wing can hold up to twenty prisoners and will, I hope, be in operation at the beginning of May.

Mr. Driberg

While welcoming this experiment, which may obviously tend to make life easier for prison officers in some other prisons and which will also, as the right hon. Gentleman has pointed out, help to end the need for these unduly long periods of solitary confinement, may I ask him about one particular case which I have brought to his notice? Is it likely that my constituent, prisoner No. 1 in Dartmoor, will be among those sent there immediately?

Mr. Butler

I should like to have notice of that supplementary question.

Mr. Driberg

I have already given the right hon. Gentleman notice of it, in two letters.

Mr. Lipton

Will the right hon. Gentleman say why Brixton has been singled out in this matter? Is he satisfied that adequate staff will be available to see that the experiment does not lead to even greater trouble?

Mr. Butler

The experiment has nothing to do with the hon. Gentleman, but the staff will be adequate.