Captain O'CONNORasked the Home Secretary whether he is aware that, under the Regulations recently issued by the Prison Commissioners regarding the treatment of prisoners on remand, such prisoners are being forbidden the use of tobacco at Brixton Prison, and are only allowed to receive visits from lawyers and relatives; and whether, in view of the fact that these Regulations only apply at Courts of trial, he will take steps to ensure that remand prisoners, while at Brixton and other remand prisons, are treated according to the principle that a man is to be presumed innocent until he is found guilty?
§ Sir W. JOYNSON-HICKSI would refer the hon. and gallant Member to the answer I gave him on the 22nd April last on this subject. The Regulations to which he refers do not deal with treatment in prisons, but with the treatment of prisoners while actually at the Court of Justice awaiting trial. They have been found necessary to ensure proper behaviour and prevent abuses. No change has been made in the treatment of persons on remand or waiting trial in prisons, which is regulated by Statutory Rules; and no change is proposed.