§ Captain Ramsayasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has at any time consulted with his medical advisers regarding the reaction on the mental, physical and nervous health likely to result from keeping persons in prisons for periods of years under the main provisions laid down for remand prisoners who only remain under such conditions for a few weeks; and how this advice has compared with the facts in practice.
§ Mr. H. MorrisonI am, of course, in constant consultation with my medical advisers on all matters affecting the health of persons detained under Defence Regulation 18B. As I have stated on many occasions, it is not the policy to keep in prison persons who have to be detained under the Regulation, and all but a few special cases were accordingly removed to camps in the Isle of Man as soon as the necessary powers were obtained. The1116W majority of those now in prison are either temporary residents who have been transferred from an Isle of Man camp, and will be returned there when the purpose for which they were transferred has been completed, or persons who have expressed a wish, on health or other grounds, not to be sent to the Isle of Man. The conditions governing detention in prison are very different from those of remand prisoners, because detained persons enjoy greater freedom of association amongst themselves, and throughout the day have liberty of movement within the quarters of the prison set apart for them. I am satisfied that such mental stress as exists is the result not of the conditions of detention but of the deprivation of liberty itself.
§ Captain Ramsayasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons arrested under Regulation 18B have broken down in mental, nervous or physical health; and how many of these have died shortly after their release.
§ Mr. H. MorrisonI cannot accept the implication in this Question that the conditions of detention under Defence Regulation 18B are such that they cause a breakdown in the health of the persons detained. As a whole, the health of persons detained has been good, and experience has shown that complaints about health have usually had reference to a condition of health which existed prior to detention. From the fact that persons have, from time to time, been sent to hospitals or other institutions for special treatment, or released on medical grounds, it does not follow that their ill-health has been caused by the conditions of their detention. I have not the information to enable me to reply to the last part of the Question.
§ Captain Ramsayasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been drawn to the decline in general health of Mr. Serrocauld Skeels, who has been detained since October, 1942, in Brixton prison; and whether, having regard to the state of his health and the fact 'that in June he will be 70 years of age, he will consider releasing him under suitable conditions at an early date.
§ Mr. H. MorrisonI am not at present prepared to authorise release in this case.