1 No. 313,061. HOME OFFICE, WHITEHALL. 19th July, 1916. Sir, I am directed by Mr. Herbert Samuel to send for
Mr. Chamberlain's information the following observations on
the despatch from the Indian Government copy of which
accompanied your letter of the 5th instant. The removal of Criminal Lunatics to this country
under the provisions of the Colonial Prisoner Removal Act,
1884, is not of very frequent occurrence and the cases in
which such a course may be desirable vary so much that it is
difficult to make any general statement as to the practice in
dealing with them subsequently to the removal. In Mr. Samuel's opinion the governing fact is that
under the Criminal Lunatics Act, 1884, the Home Secretary is
responsible for all Criminal Lunatics in England: reports on
them are made to him not less than once a year and under
section 4 of the Act consideration has to be given at least
once in every three years to the question whether the lunatic
can be safely discharged or whether any other action should
be taken in regard to him. The determination of this question
at any particular time must of course depend not only on the
man's mental and physical health, and the possibility of
relapse into active insanity, but also on the nature of his
crime, on his history before becoming a Criminal Lunatic and
his prospects in the event of discharge from the asylum. In
the case of a lunatic sent from India, the Indian Government
would be consulted on these points and this would be
specially necessary in the case of a man who had been
certified insane while undergoing Penal Servitude in India. If The Under Secretary of State for India, Public Department, India Office. 2 If such a one were to recover his sanity before the
expiration of his term of Penal Servitude it would be a
question whether he should be remitted to prison as
contemplated by Section 3 of the Act of 1884 or discharged
and in the latter case what conditions (if any) should be
attached to the discharge. If there was a substantial
portion of the sentence still unexpired or if the sentence
was one for life, it would be the desire of this Department
to consult the India Government before taking steps for
releasing the man from custody; and it is extremely
unlikely that a discharge would ever be authorized without
consulting them, but in view of his responsibilities under
the Criminal Lunatics Act, 1884, the Home Secretary would
not feel it right to accept custody of an insane prisoner
from India except on the condition that this powers under
the Act remain intact with regard to the case. It will be understood that this applies only to
England and Wales. The Secretary of State has no
jurisdiction in this matter in Scotland and Ireland: and
the Criminal Lunatics Act, 1884, extends only to England
and Wales. Prisoners sent to England from India to serve a
sentence of Penal Servitude stand on a different footing
from lunatics as the sentence can only be remitted by the
Indian Government, but here too it is conceivable that for
reasons arising since a convict's removal from India and
unconnected with the offence of which he has been convicted,
such as his state of health or the assistance rendered by
him to the Prison Authorities in an emergency, it might
become desirable in accordance with the practice followed
in the case of other convicts to allow his release on
licence earlier than in the ordinary course and in such an
event the decision to release should, in Mr. Samuel's
opinion, rest with the Home Secretary rather than with the
Government of India. I am, etc. . (Sd.) Edward Troup.