Cat and Mouse Act

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The "Cat and Mouse Act" (officially, the Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill Health) Act 1913) was passed in Britain by Herbert Henry Asquith's Liberal government in 1913.

Feminists view the passing of this act as a response to the actions of the militant suffragette organisation, the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), founded by Emmeline Pankhurst. This act was seen to be a means of suppressing the power of the organisation by demoralising the activists, as women in this movement would perform acts of protest such as the breaking of windows, arson, and the "technical assault" (without causing harm) of police officers, who were summarily jailed.

In response to what the organisation viewed as brutal punishment and harsh treatment by the government at the time, WSPU members would go on hunger strikes. This was to be a demonstration to the press as being demonstrative of the brutality that they had suffered. Some women were freed on taking this action, and in response by the government, some of those who took hunger strikes were often force-fed by nasogastric tube. Repeated uses of this process often caused sickness, which appeared to serve the WSPU's aims of demonstrating the government's treatment of the prisoners.

The so-called "Cat and Mouse Act" was passed to release prisoners who were suffering illness for them to recuperate; however the police were free to re-imprison offenders again once they were better. To counter forcefeeding, suffragettes moved to thirst strikes.

The act was viewed as violating basic human rights, not only to suffragettes but to other prisoners. For the suffragettes, its institution by Asquith caused the WSPU, being run as a quasi-military organisation, to perceive Asquith as the enemy — enemy to be eradicated in what the organisation saw as an all-out war.zh:貓捉老鼠法案