PRISON REFORM

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 5, 1 October 1918, Page 2

PRISON REFORM

LECTURE AT Y.W.C.A. Mrs. Beck gave a very interesting and informative lecture on Prison Reform to the Women's National Council (Wellington Branch), in the Y.W.C.A. rooms, Herbert Street, last' evening. Airs. Beck opened her address with a brief resume of life and conditions in i our prisons at the present time. She laid special stress on the horrors of solitary confinement and its terrible effect on tho mind of a certain typo of criminal. Prison life, however, was infinitely more horriblo in the past, as everyone. knew, and dirt and disease were ramonnt in every gaol. Severity was no deterrent to crime: it only orn'irutaliscd and never reformed its victims. Statistics proved that prisons where more humane methods were, in for™ had cured a large pe'rceuivc of criminals. ,Tho lecturer dwolt on llie humane and modem conditions p.-e™-lorit in the well-known Americiu prison Sing Sing. There a kind of com- ! niunal system had been in force for some time, with tho most encouraging results'. The prisoners wore at liberty to talk as much as they liked, ai.il there was a Welfare Leaguo which virtually controlled the prison, and organised classes where trades find education could ho acquired from teachers who vcrv often wore prisoners .themselves. Then there, was a Grievance Committee, composed of five inmates, and any prisonor could bring his troubles to it. Men who persistently evaded or broke rules were dealt with by this committee. Statistics from this prison proved conclusively that a very small percentage of men, was ever arrested and sent back to Sing Sing.

In dealing .with the question of juvenile) crime, Mrs. Beck contended that crime in .'children' was largely a matter of health and environment. The social conditions of the children. elioulil be improved, nml women should interest themselves in -thu nropor looking after of children. Juvenile crime would thus soon ho on tho decrease. Children should have proper Tihiytrrnunds and medical attention, and plenty of work and play of tho right kind. Another evil.of our present system, tho lecturer said, was tho mixing of voting offenders, with the old and lnoro'lwrdiwcd offenders. The result was that the j'ounn men wero influenced for evil and gradually prow worse and worse under the so-called reformative treatment. A vote of thanks was passed to the lecturer for her able- and interesting address.