§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will confirm that the prisoners in Albany Prison, Isle of Wight, went on peaceful strike for the two days 30th November and 1st December in protest against the inferior conditions of imprisonment in England and Wales compared with Northern Ireland; what record they have of the submissions of those prisoners; and how they justify the disparity of treatment in favour of Ulster prisoners.
§ Lord BelsteadOn 30th November prisoners in Albany prison held a peaceful demonstration against disparity of treatment with prisoners in Northern Ireland. Their action, which lasted for one day only, took the form of a mass refusal to work and their demands were set out in a document which had been pinned to the prison notice boards. The differences with Northern Ireland reflect, among other things, the smaller scale of its prison system, the much higher proportion of long-term prisoners and the absence of a parole scheme.