A PRISONS RECORD

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2531, 4 August 1915, Page 11

A PRISONS RECORD

FOR 1914 VALUE OF TREE PLANTING The annual report on tho Prisons branch of the Department of Justice was presented to Parliament yesterday; The statement of tho Inspector of Prisons showed that the year 1914 constituted a record for the number of prisoners confined in our gaols. ■ The year commenced with a total of 919, as against 866 for 1913, and ended with a total of 1045, as compared witli'9l9 for the corresponding period of the previous while the daily average in 1914 was 979.81, or 86.57 per day more than in 1913. It is probable that the daily average for 1915 will be less than for the year under review. Sinco 1911 tho daily average of male prisoners has increased from 799 to 916, while female prisoners show a reduction from 94 per day in 1881 to 63 per day in 1914. The gross cost of tho prison system for 1914 was £55,479, an increase of £3901 over tho previous year. The credits from-the' different industries carried on showed an increase from £7382 in 1913 to £9162 lor 1914. Tho number of prisoners employed at Waikcria prison farm increased from 39 at the beginning to 54 at the end of the year. Tree-planting operations wero continued throughout the year. It is now fourteen years since the first treeplanting prison farm was established. The area planted in that period amounts to 9776 acres, and the number of trees planted is 31,000,000. The labour value of the prisoners' work is estimated at £51,000. The average number of prisoners employed was 51. "At no time in tho history of tho Department of Prisons," states the report, "has there been so much activity in the prosecution of important undertakings as has been the case during tho past year. Every able-bodied prisoner has been employed at work which is either directly remunerative, or has led to a large saving of public expenditure." Dealing with Wellington, the report states that owing to the unsatisfactory situation of the Terrace Prison it has been found somewhat difficult in former years to find suitable employment for all tho inmates. The principal outlet was at the Mount Cook brickworks, and as a consequence more men were sent there than were required to keep up the output to its limit. During the past year, however, ample work was found for the prisoners in carrying out extensive alterations at Mount Cook, and by building an additional cellhouse at Point Halswell, and employing the men there at tree-planting, and in the excavation that has now been commenced to provide a site for a new prison.

A section of the report deals with the subject of assisting prisoners on, release. "There is little doubt,"'it says, "that however thorough a prison system may be l in .training men to habits of discipline and industry, much of this effect is lost if prisoners are left entirely to their own devices on their release. Many men have a keen desire to _'go straight' when they, are. free, but in order to do so it is necessary that they should immediately find employment. In many cases this is, a practical impossibility unless Organised assistance is available; failing it, want, misery, and final loss of self-respect, and a return to gaol. There are Prisoners' Aid Societies in all the principal cities of New Zealand, which have done good work in succouring the fallen, and supplying, as far as possible, the want I have referred to, but their means are limited, and there appears to bo a lack of general organisation working from a common centre." The Inspector of Prisons went on to say that ho paid a good deal iof attention to the matter when visiting Australia, and, as far as he could judge, the best results were obtained in New South Wales,- where there is a general association for the whole State.,