THE PRISONS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1849, 8 September 1913, Page 11

THE PRISONS.

A IMPROVING CRIME METHODS. WELLINGTON GAOL. MUST BE "ENDED OR MENDED." Tiio annual report of tho Prisons Branch of tho Department of Justice Was presented to tho Honse of Representatives on Friday by tho Minister for Justice (tho Hon. A. L. Hofdman). . The gross expenditure on prisons for tlie year was £46,134, and tho gross cost per head of prisoners was £50 ss. 2d. The daily average number of prisoners was 917.89, made up of 853.82 males a ; nd 64.07 females. In 1906. the gross expenditure was only, but the growth of the expenditure is accounted for by tho fact that until the year 1910 the expenditure .on tfeo-planting ■ camps, and on police and minor gaols, was not inoluded in tho expenditure tables. Talcing into account the increased cost of management, transport, rations, etc'.* caused by the establishment of tree-planting camps, tho riso in the cost per head is regarded as comparatively small. As a set-off there is a higher credit of £5431, and when this is deducted from the total expenditure, it lowers the net cost per head to £44 6s. 6d. This credit of £5431 does not represent the total value of tho prison labour engaged in different directions. In tree-planting alone, for which no credit is transferred; tho valuo of work done during the year is £3256. Also reclamation work is being carried on at Invercargill, which will give tlie Department a very considerable asset in a few years' timo. In other works too a great deal of prison Jabour has been utilised, for which tho Department receives no financial credit. In fact, tho report states, if the Prisons Department received an adequate financial credit h from tho other Departments for which ' it provides labour, the annual charges against the Prisons Department for the maintenance and supervision of prisoners would bo reduced by many thousands of pounds, and tho burden of cost would be properly debited to the votes of the Departments for which the;work was done. Grime Returns. . The following were the variations in the number of persons in prison per 10,000 of population in live yearly periodslßßl, 13.77:1886,10.60:1891, 8.42: 1896, 7.70: 1901. 9.05: 1906, 9.80; 1911, 8.51. It is difficult to arrive at any definite conclusion as to tho underlying causes governing the increase or decrease of offences as shown by the total number of prisoners in tho gaols during different periods, states the report. It is noted, however, that there has been a substantial decrease in the number of committals for serious crimes, judged by ■ the length of sentences imposed, compared not only with 1911, but with previous years. The following figures go back as far as 1906. One year's hard Jabour and upwards and habitual criminals:—l9o6, 411; 1907, 390; 1908, 434; 1909, 412; 1910, 291; 1911, 214,; 1912, 157. Three months' hard labour and under one year:—1906, 741; 1907, 739; 1908, 651; 1909, 740; 1910, 604; 1911, 501; 1912, 442. Criminals for reformative detention only:—1911, 68; 1912, 53. ■ There has therefore been a steady decrease in tho number of serious crimes, and that the increase in the daily average of prisoners for the, year has therefore been mainly caused by the increased number of minor offences. A most marked feature of tho figures quoted is the decrease in the number of female prisoners, the daily average having fallen from 94.37 in 1881, to 64.07 in 1912. The lowest point in the descending scale was reached in 1897—48.5. Although the population practically doubled between 1881 and 1912, there is no doubt, whatever the causes, that there is now less crime among tho women of the country than in earlier years, and very few of the female prisoners are 'of an essentially criminal character. Tho figures with regard to the male prisoners show a gradual growth of tlie daily average from year to year, but this increase is ; by no means commensurate with the 1 increase in our general.population. Tree-Planting and Farming. , i The utility of the tree-planting camps, ' both from tho point of view of the pri- ' son administration and from the importance of afforestation to the State, j haß, says the report, passed beyond question. The following is ft statement c of the totarwork done at the various • camps:— ' ' ■ . Trees Acreß f Prison. planted, -cleared. } Waiotapu (now Kai- • ; ngaroa)' 19,020,031 6,923 Waipa 4,970,620 1,799 , Dumgreo 503,975' 75 1 Hanmor 4,358,331 - 1,448 f Totals 28,852,957' 10,245 * The total value of this work as esti- t mated by the officers of tlhe Forestry j] Department is £41,575. Apart from the economic value, of the work, the camps are recognised by the prison' authorities as being of very great valuo from a re- , formative standpoint, arid as affording v an opportunity of removing well-behaved ' prisoners from town prisons. a Tlio undoubted advantage of employ- c ing prison labour in -the open has bean ? thoroughly demonstrated by the succcss- 11 fill working of the tree-planting opora- j 1 tions sinco tho initiation of the system m 1901 (says the report), s and for some timo past it has been felt that a definite extension of the schemo to include all classes of agricultnral work Should bo attempted. Tho intention of tlio Department 13 to erect at Waikeria, where a sufficient area of land was acquired, a well-equipped and up-to-date prison, which shall be conducted on reformative lines. While it is not intended to discount tho value of industrial work in prisons, it is considered that in a country like New Zealand tho natural outlet for what might almost be termed surplus labour is in the country, and not in tho towns. 'Wlien under efficient supervision, prisoners havo become inured to hard work, learn to handle the' implements of husbandry. and to accustom themselves .to general farming routine. On their release they can readily take up a similar class of work. It is with this object in new that tho prison at Waikeira is being established, and although tlie first draft of prisoners was sent there so recently as July of last year, much solid work has already been done, and tho men who liavo been released appear to have found little difficulty in obtaining suitable work. From a public point of view this has a veri' important bearing, as it tends to prevent the aggregation of prisoners ill tho cities and towns, where, partly for lack, of adequate equipment for earning their living, and partly owing to their re- J turn to their formor environment, they ! often revert to crime. _ _ 1 A further development is taking place c . at Invercargill, where, as a return for ' the labour involved in building exten- 1 sive walls and embankments for tho pur- . pose of reclaiming the wide Waihopai ! estuary, the Invercargill Borough Coun- ' cil has agreed to transfer to the Prisons s Department all area of 650 acres of c loud that at present forms part of tho estuary. As soon as tho initial work is 1 completed ihe prisoners at Invercargill . in bringing the land into cultivation and a second agricultural institu- c tion will thus be established. In pursunnco of this policy, it is proposed to 1 obtain, If pDnslbto, iw am of land la

the Canterbury district to which tho prisoners from Lyttelton Prison would bo transferred. It' this can be arranged it will riiean a solid advance in the system of prison management and con- ■ trol in this country. Troos at Point Halswell. By direction of the Minister for Justice, fcho planting operations were extended to tho neighbourhood of .Wellington early in the current year, prison i labour having been utilised to plant tlic bare, wind-swept _ hill-sides of tho defence reserve at Point Halswell -with suitable troes. It is hoped that in a ! few years' time tho growtli of tho trees will "bo sufficient to make a marked im--1 provoment in tho appearance of that part of- tho Miramar peninsula. A • number of aliort-sentence prisoners from the Point Halswell Prison have been ijscfully employed in pitting and panting for some months past, and a cer--1 tain amount of prison labour will bo employed for some time to come _in looking after tho trees and planting others where they may be required. Progress In the Year. The development of tlio prison system ■ is necessarily gradual, aa is 1 also the ; provision of new and more modern buildings to replaco those that have , become obsolete; or those that lia-vo been built in unsuitable localities. Still, since the last annual report was written two important departures have taken place in the general system of prison management—tho commencement of farming ! operations at Waikeria, and the opening of a prison for females at Addington. The; instruction of-the prisoners in physical drill was commenced at Invercargill some time ago, and arrangements have recently been made for a class to be established at Auckland un- ' der tho instruction of one of the staff. Similar arrangements will be made at other prisons when it is practicable to do so. N The system of evening classes for the prisoners having provod successful at Invercargill, preparations are now , being made to carry out similar instructions at Auckland and Lyttelton. In , both places matters have been much delayed owing to structural difficulties, but these aro now being overcome. .The accommodation at the Wellington prison is too limited to enable any avail- , able apaco being appropriated for a schoolroom at present. '' Wellington Gaol. "Hopelessly obsolete" is the descrip- i tion applied to the Wellington prison : buildings. "The recent escapes," it is ; stated, "have emphasised tho unfitness < of the structure; and of the exercise- ] yards surrounding it.for their present purpose, but without considerable ex- '■ penditure it will bo exceedingly diffi- 1 cult to make any improvement. At - the present time the building and its 1 surroundings, combined with, the brick- 1 making works at Mount Cook, aro a j constant source of anxiety to the offi- ] cers of tho prison, and to the adminis- ' tration, and, to put the position plain- j ly, the time has arrived when tho Ter- ! race prison should be ended or mend- 1 ed. That is to say, the whole of the j wooden structure should be pulled down 1 , and re-erected in brick on modern lines, or n smaller prison should be ' built on somo suitable site in Welling- ' ton or its suburbs. Tho present area ? could be sold for residential purposes, , and tho proceeds of tho sale used to de- „ fray the cost of erecting the new prison. Tho configuration of tho present site does not lend itself to the laying out of suitablo oxcrcisc-yards, and this, in conjunction with the steep approaches, makes it desirable that another site should be selectedjf a building programme bo decided upon." r 1 Escapes. i In all, there were ten escapes during ® the year—6 from Wellington, 3 from - Invercargill, 1 from Waiotapu, and 1 ® from Waipa. b