asked whether there has been any recent case of a male prisoner refusing to take food in the ordinary way in any Scottish prison; and, if so, what action the authorities took to deal with it?

There is a recent case of a Russian prisoner sentenced to penal servitude for life for culpable homicide in 1905. Except for a short period, he has served the sentence in Perth Prison Criminal Lunatic Department, where he is now. He has had to be fed artificially.