§ Mr. HAYCOCKasked the Home Secretary (1) whether any instructions have been given to prison governors to report prisoners for disobedience of orders when the offence is that of talking or gossiping; and what instructions, if any, have been given:
(2) whether an order has been recently given, verbally or in writing, to officers in the prison service that prisoners are not allowed to converse with each other while being escorted from one prison to another?
Mr. HENDERSONI would refer the hon. Member to the Circular on this subject which was published as Appendix 10 to the Annual Report of the Prison Commissioners for 1921–22. The Prison Commissioners inform me that no other instructions on the subject of talking have been issued since.