"HABITUAL CRIMINALS."

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1045, 7 February 1911, Page 6

"HABITUAL CRIMINALS."

A PROTEST. Sir,—Reading, as I do daily, your straightforward and admirable paper, I have been struck with the way in which you havo opened up your columns as freely to each fide with regards to their opinions. And I now trust that you will give your powerful aid to expose _tho treatment of habitual criminals at ;\ow Plymouth. When Mr. M'Gowan was Minister for Justice, the peculiar Act for dealing with old offenders was passed, and seven cells were specially built here, cut off from the other part of the prison for their accommodation. It was nasurally supposed that this number woulo be ample, but the extraordinary application of the Act has resulted in the declaration of a largo number of men, and their indefinite detention without trial or jury. It is supposed by both judges and the public, that reformative methods are applied, but the fact of the matter is, there is no distinction between them and the ordinary prisoner (with whom they freely mix at labour) in the matter of work and discipline:' For what reason, then, are they, submitted to this cruel form of punishment. They have no idea when they will be released, or what they must do to obtain their release. Their conduct has teen exemplary, and they are receiving Cd. a day for an amount of work which would get thorn Bs. or Ds. a day outside. Thero is hardly one of them who has not fixed employment, to go to immediately on release, and friends have offered to give personal guarantee as to future conduct. If an independent person were to visit the gaol ho would acquire information which would astonish the public, who havo been greatly deceived. The usual visitors see things through the authori•>s eyes, but it is only possible to ascertain the true facts by inquiry the prisoners themselves. I may mention that a printed list of rules and regulations is conspicuously displayed, in which it is stated that the work shall, as far as' possible, be instructive, educational, and reformative. The said work is stonebreaking. That important person, the gaoler, on whom largely depends the fate of the men, insists on the strict carrying out of the--harsh and hardening regulations. The latest bar put in the way of release, is a board, which ,by the Act passed in Parliament, was to bo constituted on January 1, 1911, but which has not yet been formed. Prisoners recognise in this, as in many other things, the subtle hand of the humanitarian Minister for Justice, Dr. Findlay. Seven of the prisoners undergoing tha habitual sentence, are in a wing by themvelves, having bedsteads with mattresses, and are not locked up in their cells until 7 p.m., whilst the remaining eighteen are locked in their cells at 5 p.m., and if they apply for a mattress they are severely snubbed and refused. A grave injustice would havo been avoided had care been taken to catch actual habitual criminals before cooking them. Had men been given a fair trial on a specified charge, there would not have heen a rankling, and most bitter sense, of the injustice of their detention. Do the public recognise tho effect of ignoring trial by jury and by to discretion of- the judges? A big price, indeed, to pay for binding into slavery men who have loved the bottle not wisely but too well. Fifteen men have been released by a judge during two years, in accordanco with tho Act. Of these two havo fallen again, or less than 14 per cent. The average of ordinary criminals is 52 per all. crimes, but for felonies alone", ; "for which'all the habitual criminals aro confined here, is about 00 per cent. And yet it is said that it is madness to let these men out as tho judges havo done. But if the judges sentence them, why should they not release them. Is Dr. Findlay judge, jury, gaoler, grand inquisitor, and the holder of the

Seven of the prisoners undergoing tho habitual sentence, are in a wing by themvelves, having bedsteads with mattresses, and are not locked up in their colls until 7 p.m., whilst the remaining eighteen are locked in their cells at 5 p.m., and if they apply for a mattress they are severely snubbed and refused. A grave injustice would have been avoided had care been taken to catch actual habitual criminals before cooking them. Had men been given a fair trial on a specified charge, there would not have been a rankling, and most bitter sense, of the injustice of their detention. Do the public recognise tho effect of ignoring trial by jury and by trusting to discretion of- the judges? A big price, indeed, to pay for binding into slavery men who have loved the bottle not wisely but too well. Fifteen men have been released by a judge during two years, in accordance with tho Act. Of these two havo fallen again, or less than 14 per cent. The average of ordinary criminals is 52 per all crimes, but for felonies alone", ; "for which'all the habitual criminals are confined here, is about 00 per cent. And yet it is said that it is madness to let these men out as tho judges havo done. But if the judges sentence them, why should they not release them. Is Dr. Findlay judge, jury, gaoler, grand inquisitor, and the holder of the Koyal Prerogative? In the House, Dr. Findlay read a , report regarding the habitual criminals detained in New Plymouth. He stated that there were 27 inmates, 21 males, and three females, and that they were hardened criminals and beyond reform, the majority being 70 years 'of ago or over. As it is there are not two that are 70. tho majority being from 25 to 38. This report would lead the public to believe that it was only a home for aged criminals, who were not able to start a new life.—l am, etc., x . JUSTICE.