§ Mr. Terry Walkerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what advice he has given magistrates about committing physically handicapped persons to prisons or detention centres.
§ Mr. Alexander W. LyonMagistrates have been advised that the régime of a detention centre is unsuited to those who are seriously handicapped physically or mentally; and the arrangements to be made by magistrates' courts for obtaining medical reports to determine defendants' fitness for detention centre training were the subject of a Home Office circular in 1972. Advice in relation to committals to prison has not been found necessary.