§ 5. Mr. Loganasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is aware that the hon. Member for the Scotland division of Liverpool visited the Athol Street Bridewell, Liverpool, on 17th instant, to see a prisoner, a constituent, who was reported to him to have been batoned by the police, but the hon. Member was not allowed to see the prisoner; and if he will therefore issue a circular to all police forces, instructing them to give to hon. Members special facilities of access to such of their constituents as are held in custody by the police.
§ Sir D. Maxwell FyfeAny suggestion that a member of a borough police force has been guilty of misconduct is a matter for the Watch Committee, which is in law responsible for the disciplinary control of the force. I have, however, made inquiry into this incident, and I am assured that there is no truth in the allegation that the prisoner, who has now been before the court, had been assaulted by the police.
Facilities for allowing visitors access to prisoners in police custody are a matter for chief constables to decide in the light of the facts, subject to the principle that a prisoner should be given every opportunity to consult with his friends or legal advisers, and I have no reason to think that if a prisoner asked to see his Member of Parliament and the Member wished to see him, he would not normally be permitted to do so. I think that in this case the prisoner should have been asked whether he wished to see the hon. Member and I am so informing the Chief Constable. I do not think that this isolated incident affords sufficient grounds for issuing any general guidance to chief constables