HC Deb 09 July 1964 vol 698 cc597-8
15. Mr. Lubbock

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why Mr. Thomas Wisbey, Mr. James Hussey, and Mr. Robert Welch were held in solitary confinement for six weeks after the train robbery trial while their appeals were being considered.

48. Mr. Fernyhough

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why Thomas Wisbey, imprisoned in Oxford, James Hussey in Wandsworth, and Robert Welch in Canterbury, were held in solitary confinement for six weeks.

49. Mr. V. Yates

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why three prisoners sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment in connection with the great train robbery were held in solitary confinement for six weeks.

Mr. Brooke

All these prisoners had former convictions and were associated in the same or connected serious offences. It has been necessary in the interests of security that for limited periods they should be segregated from other prisoners and from each other.

Mr. Lubbock

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the previous convictions of these men were for comparatively minor offences? Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that some of us are afraid that prison governors exercise their powers in this matter in a somewhat arbitrary manner? Is there a statutory limitation on the length of time for which prisoners can be kept in solitary confinement? Can the right hon. Gentleman assure us that these men have not been put back into solitary confinement after the rejection of their appeals yesterday?

Mr. Brooke

I assure the hon. Gentleman that governors of prisons adhere strictly to Rule 43 of the new Prison Rules which have been approved by the House. It is a very frequent practice when recidivist prisoners are sentenced to more than four years in prison to remove them from association for the first weeks of their sentence. I have no information as to what might have happened since yesterday.

Mr. Lubbock

There have been other cases in which men sentenced to more than four years have been kept in solitary confinement for more than six weeks. Is not the right hon. Gentleman aware that three men were released from solitary confinement as soon as representations were made to that effect by their solicitors?

Mr. Brooke

This is not a matter of anything being overlooked. I said that it is the general practice that when a recidivist is sentenced to a long term of imprisonment he is removed from association for a period in the first instance. This is extremely desirable in the public interest.