§ Mr. BELLOCasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will state the number of assaults on warders and wardresses that have taken place in His Majesty's prisons during this year to the present date; how many have been made by male and female prisoners respectively; and what punishments have 1061W been inflicted upon those guilty of such assaults, distinguishing between those inflicted upon male and female prisoners respectively?
§ Mr. GLADSTONEThe Annual Report of the Prison Commissioners gives the number of cases of violence in prison, including assaults on officers, for each year. If the hon. Member will refer to appendix 6 of the Report for any year he will find the number of such offences committed in each prison during the year by males and females respectively. The total number of prisoners guilty of such acts of violence during the year ended 31st March last was 947 males and 117 females. These figures will appear in the Report for that year, which will be published shortly. The statistics do not give the punishment awarded for each individual offence except in the cases of prisoners sentenced to corporal punishment for violent assaults on officers; it would involve very serious clerical labour to make nominal lists showing the punishment in each case, and I fear that I cannot ask the hard-worked prison staff to undertake this additional task.