§ Mr. Clinton Davisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what is the procedure in Her Majesty's Prisons for persons remanded in custody to have their hair cut to a regulation length; and in what circumstances the prison regulations are relaxed in this respect;
(2) which regulations of the Prison Regulations are invoked to require defendants who have been convicted but remanded in custody for reports prior to sentence being passed to have their hair cut.
§ Mr. MaudlingRule 26(2) of the Prison Rules, 1964, provides that, unless excused or excepted by the governor or medical officer, every convicted prisoner shall be required to have his hair cut as may be necessary for neatness. The requirement is relaxed on religious and medical grounds or in other exceptional circumstances. An unconvicted prisoner is not required to have his hair cut unless the medical officer directs this to be done in the interests of health or cleanliness.
I propose to amend the rule at the first convenient opportunity, but in the meantime governors are being instructed to apply the exception for unconvicted prisoners to those who have been convicted but not sentenced.