§ Captain Kerbyasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will give instructions to the police in the Metropolitan Police district that accused persons and convicted first offenders of 50 years of age and over are not to be manacled on their way to and from courts and prisons.
§ Mr. BrookeThe Metropolitan Police are authorised to handcuff prisoners only in certain prescribed circumstances, for example, when the prisoner is likely to attempt to escape, or is charged with a very serious offence. I see no ground for modifying these instructions in the case of prisoners of 50 years of age or over. The use of handcuffs is in fact infrequent.