OUR PRISON SYSTEM.

Gisborne Times, Volume VII, Issue 348, 24 February 1902, Page 3

OUR PRISON SYSTEM.

SERIOUS CHARGES.; , Mr E. G. Jellicoe has sent the following significant communication to the Minister of Justice-:—Sir,—Pri- . soner Wilson’s case has brought under my notice the. present system of discipline and management of the Terrace, Mount Cook, and Point Halswell prison, and I am now placed in possession of evidence which warrants me in demanding from the Government the appointment of a Royal Commission to enquire into the general administration of these prisons. The grounds upon which I base this application are—(l) The Terrace and Point Halswell prisons are a disgrace to humanity, being greatly over-crowded, ’ without any attempt being made by classification to cope with the evils of association ; (2) that at the Terrace prison there is no proper exercise yard —that during certain hours the men are penned together and left to loaf or lie about, without any attempt to afford them proper exercise; (3) on admission the majority of the prisoners are ignorant of any trade, and no attempt is made to teach them one, nor have they any reasonable opportunity' of obtaining any technical training 'or intellectual culture ; (4) the promiscuous association of all classes of long sentence prisoners and short sentence prisoners, criminal lunatics and habitual drunkards, old and young and guilty and innocent, the novice and the hardened in crime ; (5) little or no employment is provided ; (6) every variety of discipline, lack of discipline , and abuse of discipline exists; (7) Mr Garvey and Colonel Hume ought not to be left to manage the prisons according to their own ideas , (8) there is no proper bathing accommodation ; (!>) the confinement of two or more prisoners in small cells is a ' disgrace to civilisation, and lends to promote and encourage crime of the ’ worst and basest description ; (10) * the insufficiency of opportunities of access bv prisoners to .the gaoler ; ” (11) that privileges and tobacco

afforded to the prisoners are dependent , on the caprice of tire warders and 1 gaoler ; (12) the 'insufficiency of medi- I cal attendance and medical supervi- ' sion; (13) that in several cases there have been instances of cruelty and improper conduct on the part of warders-; (I t) that vice and obscenity are everywhere in the ascendant. The basis of every kind of prison system carried out during the past century inis been to inure prisoners to habits of industry and to guard the unhappy offenders from pernicious company. The administration of the prisons should he in intelligent hands, tree from the injurious influences of parties and politics, and free from the iniiuenee of any particular religious sect. 1 am prepared to give my services to assist a proper investigation ot the charges which 1 now formulate against your"department, in order that some good may result to my fellow-crca- - lures. For obvious reasons 1 protest , against any inquiry being held by Mr • W. R. Haselden. I find llis Honor Mr 1 Justice Williams is likely to he in ’ Wellington for some time to come, 1' aim i appeal to vou to appoint that 1 learned Judge a Royal Commissioner s to inquire into the charges I now make. 1 am satisfied that such an investigation should be satisfactory to 3 the public, and if the charges are tmg founded it should be satisfactory to b your department.