The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. TUESDAY, MAY 15,1888 REPORT ON PRISONS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1841, 15 May 1888, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. TUESDAY, MAY 15,1888 REPORT ON PRISONS.

The eighth annnal report by Captain A. Hume, Inspector of Prisons, has been laid before the House together with the second annual report on the operation of "The First Offenders Probation Act, 1886." The Inspector has visited the thirteen larger gaols m the colony periodically at uncertain intervals and the smaller gaols as . time and circumstances permitted. The Inspector believes that the gaols are now established and conducted on an efficient and economical basis. While tyranny and cruelty are not approached, the system adopted is considered sufficiently severe to make penal servitude avd imprisonment deterrent, and as far as possible of a reformatory nature. The success m the working of the First Offenders Act has been very marked, and it has turned out to be a measure of considerable usefulness. Retrenchment has been carried on to some degree m prison management, and the cost of maintenance of prisoners has been less than for the corresponding period last year, a result which all must be gratified to hear. Along with retrenchment m prison expenditure the number and seriousness of prison offences has been diminished. Up to the time of drawing up the report only three escapes from gaol custody had been made, and all the prisoners were re-captured without much delay. One prisoner who escaped at Hokitika was never lost sight of, and one at Oamaru was only out an hour an a half. An escapee from Mount Cook gaol at Wellington managed to keep clear of the officials for three days before being oaptured. Sickness on the whole was not prevalent among prisoners, the daily average being 10-23 male 3 2-59 females out of a total of 5428 prisoners who were imprisoned for different offences, during the year. The evil of having persons Bent to gaol by the authorities while suffering from the effects of drink, was muoh to be deprecated, and two out of four deaths which occurred during the year were attributed to the direct effect of alcohol. Two executions took place at Auckland, and three persons at Qisborne, were sentenced to death, but the sentences were afterwards commuted. The proportion of criminals to the population of the colony/ taken at 645,320 was 01 being a very slight increase on the previous year. Ths cost per head of maintaiug prisoners has been £49 4s 4d as against £53 18s 9d for 1886. The Inspector speaking on the question of retrenchment m cost of maintaining prisoners says :— " The substantial decrease m both the gross and net cost per prisoner for the past year cannot be looked upon but as satisfactory as far as it goes, but it must be apparent to any one studying the subject that keeping opon small prisons at such places as Timaru, Nelson, and Lawrence is disastrous alike to the taxpayer and the criminal. The net average cost per prisoner m the English county prisons last year amounted to £22 7s Id, or £5 16s 6d less than the New Zealand prisoners, so that, all things considered, our prisons cannot be looked upon as other than economically managed. Were it not for the Supremo Court criminal sittings being held at Timaru and Nelson, those prisons might be converted into police gaols, but, where provision has to bo made for detaining prisoners awaiting trial at the fciupremo Court, it becomes necessary to keep up a sufficient staff to meet such requirements, it may be contended that these prisoners awaiting trial might bo kept elsewhere ; but then comeß the consideration that by removing them considerable obstacles are placed m the way of preparing their defence, etc. On a close examination it will be clearly seen that the smaller the prison the greater the expense, and it may be added, the worse the discipline. For ! example, Nelson is the most expensive, at £116 6s Bd., with as low a daily average of 3*9 prisoners, while Mount Cook, Wellington; is the cheapest, at £2 4s 9d per prisoner, with a daily average of 63 3 prisoners, all of whom are what may be termed remunerative. Awaitiug-trial, contempt-of-Court, or misdemeanant prisoners, who do not perform hard labor, are not incarcerated at Mount Cook ; this materially assists m keeping down expenses." The value of the work done by prison labor, m broken metal, bricks, drain-pipes and needlework is put down at £13,037 4s 9d as against £12,270 6s Od, so that while there was an increase m the number of criminals the cost per head was reduced, and the value of the work done was larger, Tho increase m the number of juvenile offenders is a matter of some regret, and the cause is not altogether clear. Captain Huino soys : " I regret to have to report a considerable increase again during the past year m tho number of juvenile offenders. During the year 1887 30 children under the age of ten years passed through the prisons of the colony, as against 39 m 1886, while is those from ten to fifteen years of age the ; numbers are 83, as against 101 $ but m those aged from fifteen to twenty jrearg

the numbers are 336, as against 295 «, giving a total increase during the past year of 14 prisoners under the age of twenty years. Though this increase is only about one-fourth of the previous year's increase, still it is a matter of deep regret that so large a number as 113 children under the age of fifteen ' years should have been detained m prisons where it is at present almost a matter of impossibility to keep them isolated from the older and hardened criminals. I am, however, glad to be able to report that much has been done m this direction, and m some cases these children have been kept entirely separate from all other prisoners. With reference » to these juvenile offenders whose prison-career I hare closaly watched/ 1 hare no hesitation m stating that sending them to prison does considerably more harm than good, and that, however carefully they may be looked after m prison, they are more dangerous to society when liberated than they were when sentenced, and the dread of prisonlife is lost to them. They receive the same rations as adult prisoners, and as many of them are mere children prison discipline has to be relaxed on their behalf. It appears to me that the only means of preventing a criminal class developing m the colony is to establish a reformatory for juvenile offenders. This might advantageously be done as an experiment, without incurring any additional expense. in the fe'outh Island, by converting either Caversham or Burnhara Industrial Schools into a reformatory for convicted juvenile criminals and retaining the other establishment as an industrial school proper for unconvicted orphans or neglected and homeless children." An interesting statement regarding the falling off m the number of re-convicted criminals is made m the report, and the Inspector says " That a comparison of the previously convicted prisoners sentenced during the past few years with those sentenced five years ago — viz,, m 1883 — shpws a decrease of 10 males and the substantial decrease of 180 females. The contrast is significant m a variety of ways. In the first place, the saving of expense to the country has been considerable. In private families there has not been so much loss m wages while the bread winner has been shut up, but more important still has been the vast amount of human misery which has been spared. Some credit for this must be given to the better- system of management which has been established m all the prisons of late years, which is proved by the marked diminution m the number of prison-punish-ments ; there has been improvement also m the methods employed for the treatment of long-sentenced prisoners. For all of them, the first stage of life is made especially penal and severe, and they mUBt win their way upwards to milder treatment by conducting themselves so as to deserve it. More care, too, is now given to their instruction ; this, combined with a fixed system of punishments and rewards, is an effective agency of reformation." To make this decrease annual and to prevent " the present satisfactory falling-off m re-con-victed criminals being followed by a temporary increase, it is of the utmost importance that the prisons now building at Auckland and Wellington should be finished with all practicable speed, as the additional accommodation is urgently required to guarantee the complete separation of casual offenders from habitual criminals. This is the only complete method of preventing the contaminating influence of the worst class of offenders. It is generally the case that, m spite of all precautions, criminals do contrivo to hold some intercourse with one another. It is important, therefore to take care that the least possible amount of mischief shall come from it, and this is very fairly secured by the absolute local separation of two classes, and the consequent limiting of the influence of the worst class to members of its own order. A prison so conducted is no longer what a prison once was — a trainingschool m vice, taking its own fashion, almost as a matter of course, from the lowest and mcst degraded of its inmates." The necessity of having a prison for first offenders know as the star class of prisoners m England is pointed out, as it is said to be ono of the best possible preventatives against contamination, With the completion of the gaols at Mouut Cook, Wellington, and Mount Eden, Auckland, there will be ample accommodation for all the prisoners, and there will bo no moro unnecessary crowding of the gaols and consequent corruption from evil association. In concluding his report on the Prisons branch the Inspector enters his hearty protest against persons suffering from delirium tremens or supposed lunatics being sent to the prisons for medical treatment. Such action is nothing short of cruelty and inhumanity, and is occasioned by the hospital staffs being too much alive to their own peace and quietness. All such cases should be sent to tha hospitals for curative treatment, and then m the case of drunkards, when cured, they should be dealt with by magistrates and severely punished. In his report on the working of the Probation Act Captain Hume expresses himself as being highly pleased with its successful operation. Only one person out on probation failed to report himself periodically, and managed to elude the vigilance of the police officers. By the operation of the Act a saving of £5226 5s 9d has been effected by the colony. Similar Acts have been adopted by the Imperial Government and to tho Queensland Government, and the statute is generally admitted to be a valuable .one m converting those who have committed a first offence, perhaps from thoughtlessness or under the influence of strong temptation, into honest and useful members of society ; whereas imprisonment would most likely have turned them into habitual criminals. Ihe _ report altogether discloses "that much is being done for the caro and reform of the criminal class, but much yet remains to be carried out. The remarks of tho Inspector m reference to juvenile criminals are worthy of#vory grave attention, and tho Government should see that as far as possible the recommendations of the inspecting officer are carried out. The State is put to great expense every year m maintaining its laws, and if the law-breakers can be dealt with m such a manner as to diminish their crimes both m number and magnitude, a desirable end will have been reached. Tho report may well be read and discussed by the Legislature with advantage to all 'concerned,