Oral Answers to Questions — Prisons – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 26 June 1947.
Mr William Brown
, Rugby
12:00,
26 June 1947
asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has completed his investigation into the allegations, sent to him, of serious malpractices at Shrewsbury prison, involving prisoners and staff; and with what result.
Mr James Ede
, South Shields
Two members of the staff of this prison were convicted at the end of May of offences of trafficking with prisoners which had occurred some months before the publication of the newspaper article to which I understand the hon. Member to refer. The allegations in that article of a smuggling plot carried out on a vast scale by a group of prison officers are without foundation, and the publication reflects most unjustly on the staff of this prison.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.