HIGH-FLOWN THEORIES
MR. HERDMAN ON PRISON REFORM. In the clearest possible language the Minister of Justice sets forth his views, in a statement which ho made on the subject yesterday, about the mischief that may be done by pampering prisoners in our gaols, and about tho curative properties of hard work as a remedy for criminality. "I know very little about, and. do not believe much in, high-flown, theories relating to prison reform, nor do I subscribe to tho theory that all penal establishments should be run upon the principles of comfortable boarding establishments," said Mr, Herdman. "I believe that if men are taught to be clean and orderly and are forced to work hard at some good healthy occupation which may be useful to them when they are released, it will help _ them to get back their self-respect, -which after all is the man's main protection. A well-devised system of classification, too, is a sound practical reform, but such a system cannot come into complete operation in New Zealand until the buildings now in the course of construction are completed. "The most difficult circumstance that a man who has been in gaol has to overcome is tho fact that he has been in gaol. It stares him in the face constantly. The thought haunts him. The recollection never leaves him, and he lives in constant dread that someone some day will point a finger at him and exclaim, 'Look at the gaolbird!' I believe that habits of cleanliness and order and the habit of working hard do more than anything else to help a man to cultivate a feeling of self-respect and self-reliance.. Indulgent treatment does no good. On tho contrary, it is mischievous. The average criminal only laughs at the sentimentalist, but be docs understand and respect order and discipline and fair treatment, and the habitual criminal who is released on probation in New Zealand dreads _ the thought of returning to the cold isolation of the prison. This is as it should be. The prisoner understands that he is being punished. When he is serving his sentence the best is done to improve him, and while he lives at the expense of the State we try to make him of some use to the State.
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Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2441, 21 April 1915, Page 8
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377HIGH-FLOWN THEORIES Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2441, 21 April 1915, Page 8
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