§ 33. Sir F. Messerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why the parents of Pentonville prisoner 9707 were not informed of the injuries suffered by their son; why he was kept waiting two hours before his head wound was stitched; and why he was punished for fighting despite the evidence of a fellow-prisoner that he was the victim of an assault.
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§ Major Lloyd-GeorgeThe hon. Member has been misinformed. The prisoner, who received scalp lacerations in a fight with two other prisoners in their cell, was taken straight to hospital as soon as his condition was discovered. There his wounds were at once cleaned and he received treatment for shock. When the medical officer arrived he ordered the lacerations to be stitched. It is not the practice to notify relatives of sickness or injury except in serious cases; this prisoner's injuries were not serious. There was a conflict of evidence as to what took place in the cell and the Governor decided that all three prisoners were partly to blame. I see no reason to interfere with the finding.