I desire to ask the Minister for Justice the following question, of which I have given him private notice: If it is a fact that Seán McConnell, Millmount Avenue, Drumcondra, at present a prisoner in Mountjoy jail, has been refused possession of his own clothes and, if so, since when; whether he is in solitary confinement in a naked condition and debarred from exercise, and whether the Minister intends to persist in this treatment.
PRIVATE NOTICE QUESTION. - PRISONER'S CLOTHES.
The prisoner referred to was sentenced at the Central Criminal Court on the 25th ultimo to 12 months' imprisonment with hard labour. On his arrival at Mountjoy prison he was required, in accordance with the ordinary prison routine, to divest himself of his clothing and to dress in prison clothes. He refused to comply with this direction, and was, in consequence, dressed in prison clothes by the prison officers. In his cell he divested himself of the clothing and went to bed, and later stated that he would not comply with any prison regulations. On the 17th instant the medical officer reported that his continuance in bed in his cell in the present hot weather might prove prejudicial to his health, and the Prisons Board thereupon ordered that he should be dressed in his own clothes and taken out to exercise. I have ascertained that McConnell dressed this morning and went out to exercise.
This has occurred before. For what reason does the Minister refuse to give a prisoner his own clothes until the doctor or somebody has intervened?
Prisoners are not refused their own clothes. I have already explained in this House that if any prisoner makes an application for leave to wear his own clothes, unless these clothes are unsuitable to be worn, such as being in an insanitary condition, leave is invariably given. No such application was made in this case.
Does not the Minister know that a prisoner of this kind has spirit enough to hold that he is not bound to ask the Minister for his own clothes?
I know there are plenty of prisoners who have probably as much spirit as this gentleman who have asked permission to wear their own clothes.