SECRET RELEASE

Hokitika Guardian, 31 August 1928, Page 4

SECRET RELEASE

—<£?■- VICTOIUA.V PRISONERS

OUTCRY AGAINST GOVERNMENT'S ACTION.

SYDNEY, Aug. IG,

• There is a popular outcry in Victoria against the practice chat lias grown up of releasing prisoners before they have served the full term fo which they were publicly sentenced, dhe revelations have been made by • the .Melbourne ‘'Herald,” which de- - scribes the action of the Labour GovI eminent as an insult to the State' Judges. The paper emphasises the danger in modifying sentences in n hole-and-corner method by a j.iolilieal 1 authority in no way judicial. Some remarkable cases of releas' 1 have occurred. In September last ; woman was sentenced to two and a half years’ imprisonment oil a charge ,of manslaughter. She was released m | May this year having served only nine | months. On January 26th, two men were sentenced to six months’ inipri--5 sonnient for larceny. At least one o: them was released after serving two linVinths. A man, sentenced to 1-1 days’ imprisonment for driving a motor car while drunk, was, released after he had spent three ways in gaol. An outstanding case was that of a carrier, a resident of Footscray. TT? lias been before the Courts regular'■ for the last sixteen years. Ho is tvell known to the police as one of the worst characters in Melbourne. Last October be appeared to answer several elmi'S'cs, and the sentences he received l/italied seventeen months’ Laird labour. While the po!i«• were i.ongcat'.lilting themselves on being rid of It r

| far a time at least, the tim m'y-Gcn. •oral was considering bis reion e am! • February 11th issued a special order wliicli gave him his freedom. Tl: police were pnr.rled and have rr-->fcH< •' strongly against thi~ man leini taken from the control of the CourtV On October 25th, 102". a man was .sentenced to six months’ imprisonment for killing 21 sheep which were not his property. The sentence was suspended on his entering into a bone to be of good behaviour. He broke the terms of the bond, and was sent to prison. Tile Attorney-General has given instructions that lie will not be required to complete the sentence. The release of several other prisoners, two of them at least being dangerous characters, is pending, the preliminaries having been completed.

The “Herald” severely criticises the Labour Government for what it terms an abuse of political authority. The paper adds: “When a criminal has been convicted of an offence, the nature of the punishment is a matter fop the judiciary. Only in one in

stance—that of the death penalty—is there recognised pro vision, for, revie w by a political authority. But apparently it has become quite a common practice in Victoria for sentences ordered by the Courts to be reviewed by the political authority. There is no public review in such cases. The responsibility for the decision, no matter how arrived at, is solely upon the Minister of the Government. Tim decision may have been made on the advice of disinterested persons, or may have been made on the urgings of interested persons. It is conceivable that rare eases may occur in which justice and humanity suggest that a prisoner might be released before the expiration of a sentence. . . If gen nine cases do occur what objection can there be to the fullest publicity being given to their consideration by a properly appointed judicial authority free from all suspicion of political interest ? . . It may be taken for granted that the facts revealed will be broadcasted throughout the underworld and that each case has been an encouragement to criminals and theii associates to look to political influence to save them from the justice administered by our Courts.” The matter is bound to be discus sed in the Victorian Parliament very soon, as a return lias been asked foi setting out the number of prisoners released by the Labour Government and the reason for the action of the Attorney-General.