HL Deb 17 December 1962 vol 245 cc876-7

2.38 p.m.

LORD STONHAM

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will permit the sale of eggs in prison "shops", and whether they will reconsider the regulation which prohibits the receipt by prisoners of food parcels.]

THE MINISTER OF STATE, HOME OFFICE (EARL JELLICOE)

My Lords, prisoners are allowed to purchase, from their earnings, a wide variety of foods at the prison canteen, but for practical reasons it is generally necessary to exclude foods which require cooking. My right honourable friend is not satisfied that there is any case for allowing food parcels to be sent in. A convicted prisoner's luxuries should depend on the money he earns by his skill and industry, not on what his relatives happen to be able to afford.

LORD STONHAM

My Lords, but is the noble Earl aware that, by their skill and industry, men can earn as much as 8s. or 9s. a week in prison, which compares with the 13s. a week which Her Majesty's Government spend on average on prisoner's food, which may permit a filling diet but one very deficient in proteins? Why will the Government not allow a prisoner, therefore, to spend his money on eggs if he wants to make up that deficiency, even if he wants to eat them raw?

EARL JELLICOE

My Lords, I should have thought that very few prisoners would in fact wish to eat them raw, and the difficulty is purely the practical one of providing the facilities for cooking. But where facilities for cooking are available, as in some sections of Holloway Prison, then this practice is permitted.

LORD STONHAM

My Lords, will the noble Earl accept my assurance that quite a number of prisoners, aware of this difficulty about the lack of cooking facilities, have actually written to say that they would rather eat eggs raw, because, if mixed with the cocoa, they could not possibly make prison cocoa taste any worse? Would the noble Earl have a look into that?

EARL JELLICOE

My Lords, I am of course happy to accept the noble Lord's assurance, and I will look into the particular point which he has raised with me. If he could let me have details it would, of course, facilitate matters.