§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners have had their brains removed for medical research in the last year for which figures are available. [18909]
§ Miss WiddecombeResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from A. J. Pearson to Mr. Harry Cohen, dated 5 March 1996:
The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question on the number of prisoners who have had their brains removed for medical research in the last year for which figures are available.
When an inmate dies in the custody of the Prison Service the disposal of the body becomes a matter for the coroner and the next of kin. Prison Service staff would not be involved in soliciting body parts either for organ donation or medical research whatever the wishes of the inmate might have been.