LIFE IN GAOL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1059, 23 February 1911, Page 3

LIFE IN GAOL.

BY ONE WHO HAS BEEN THERE. INTERESTING PEEP BEHIND TIIE SCENES.. Illy Telegraph— Spcclal Correspondent.) Auckland, February 21. An ox-prisoner, just released after serv ing nearly tliree years in gi'.ol, lias nai--ratcd liis experiences to llio "Star." Ho says, referring to tho orison food"Fur two days my palato revolted against it. twelve oz. of bread and a pint of black tea. for breakfast; 0110 pint of soup, lib. of meat, and lib.'of potatoes for dinner; and IGoz. of bread and another pint, of black tea for supper. Spartan faro, though in its way plentiful, but my corse would at first have none of it. Yet a day or two later, would you boliovo it, J could not get enough of it, which shows that palato after all is but a matter of circumstances." As is apparent from the ' narrator's style,'lie cultivated the habit of looking at the humorous side of things as much as possible. "Some of it was a bit on the grim side, perhaps," ho says. "For instance, tlio coll 1 occupied had an outlook, but it was the hangman's yard. It served, however, for it was the only bit of the outside world I could look out upon, and 1 got so used to it that I came to regard tlio situation as something of a joke, csnecially so, was this in view of'tho fact that ono of my duties was to keep clean a model scaffold kept in the gaol for tho edification of visitors. While in ono wnv niul another I bccamo ?nito familiar with the wholo apparatus or execution nurnoscs, 1 used at lust to remark laughingly to my fellow-pris-oners that 1 would be quite qualified to tako tho post of deputy-slioriff ,if need bo. But many, of them regarded my cell with very different feelings, and asked me if I ever saw ghosts. They wouldn't have occupied that cell for anything. As it matter of fact, I tolil them that I would have hailed even the companionship of n ghost with every sort of. satisfaction." Regarding prison reform,' the ex-prison-er remarks: "Tho idea is good theoretically, but X cannot sco how they are going to put it to any very useful effect with their present accommodation. Generally speaking, tho prisons are pretty full, and without further accommodation _it beats mo.how they aro going to classify tho prisoners under the reformatory system. As for'tho treatment of prisoners generally speaking, from my own experience, 'I do not seo much to complain about. The warders aro humane and considerate, and ono never hears from them any mention about one's past. \ If a prisoner hus n grievance, imaginary or, otherwise, he is - given every opportunity to ventilate it before the visiting justices. For misbehaviour, however, thero is a very effective institution termed the 'dummy,' ,n dark cell into which the refractory one is thrust for a term of tliree days for solitary reflection. During this period ho receives a spare diet of bread and water and no tobacco, while a blanket is handed in to him every night and taken away in the morning. ' I didn't hsvn any personal experience of tlio 'dummy' while 1 was in aud didn't want it either. I can assure you, but' its effect seemed to bo eminently salutary cxccpt in very raro cases. There was one man I knew, however, who had received a life . sentence, twelve years of it having gone when I was there, and his boast was that lie bad spent two of them in the 'dummy.' lie was looked up to by tho other prisoners as being soniothing more than an ordinary hero."

Nearly n year, was passed by the narrator in tlio trcc-nl.-intin? camii at Ilanmcr, and his reminiscences of this resort reach as nearly to n pleasant recollection as it is proper for ono to feel under such delicate circumstances. Here ene lived the simple life with work enough to keep tho tissues of the body stronp: ond healthy, play enouch to banish monotony, and a diet' of sufficient possibilities to whet the palato with an ever-pleasant curiosity. Porridge for breakfast, rice twice a week ■ (supplied bv the Forestry Department),, and a Reneral ehaiiße of diet at' least thn;o or four times a week. In addition, prisoner . could cultivate his own little Burden .patch and . 'prow vegetables,'.while they were also*"allowd to ro out nnd trap hnres hnd tabbifs to improve tlio menu. ' On several: occasions, moreover, special • holidav ifare w-as provided by the officers of the eainn out of their own pockets ond on the Christmas Day officers supplied roast beef, plum pwldine. ond extra tobacco and matches to enliven the occasion.