Mr. E. HARVEYasked the Home Secretary how many official visits have been paid by the chairman of the Prison Commissioners during the last five years to the prisons of Wormwood Scrubs, Liverpool, Dartmoor, Parkhurst, Durham and Portland, respectively?
§ Sir G. CAVEI regret that I cannot give the information asked for, as no official record is kept of the visits paid by the chairman of the Prison Commissioners to individual prisons. The duty of administering and controlling the work of a large Department like the Prison Department requires the constant attendance of the chairman at the Home Office, and it would be impossible for him to visit the prisons regularly. This part of the work falls to the other commissioners and to the inspectors. The chairman, however, makes personal inspection in any case where special circumstances render a visit by him desirable.