NEW KIND OF PRISON.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4644, 4 January 1924, Page 4

NEW KIND OF PRISON.

(B/ H. L. Adam in the “ Overseas Daily Mail.” I have just been through Pentonville, the senior prison of the metropolis, where I have seen something of the new method of treating prisoners.

Just inside .the inner gates ar? plants in full bloom, and in the main hall there arc two large tubs of flowering plants, and one or two vases of cut flowers —things I have never seen before in a prison. Indeed, in the past, I have seen a female prisoner at Aylesbury severely admonished for taking-a sprig of lavender into her cell.

The walls of Peirtonville are being painted a delicate shade of green, which has, says the governor, an enthusiastic humanitarian, a most beneficial effect on the minds of the inmates. Commissioner Enright, of New York, was so favourably impressed on a recent visit that he said he would have the same thing done in the New York prisons.

Here are further reforms which have recently been introduced, at Pentortiville:

No description Of prisoners and their offences appear on the outside of their cell doors, as heretofore — legends which used to seem to shout their iniquity—but merely a number.

Visits by relatives to prisoners may be paid at almost any time by grace of the governor, and the interviews take place in a comfortable sittingroom, and not in a “cage” as of old.

Prisoners work eight hours a day, exclusive of meal times,(which means less confinement.

■’he warders arc of a better class, and behave more tolerantly and less aggressively towards their charges than was the custom in the past; they arc not allowed to shout at them; there is more individual treatment, and the governor boasts that he knows most of the inmates by their Christian names.

There is an increased number of baths, and cleanliness (which has a beneficial effect on the mind) is more strenuously insisted upon; there is an “honour party,” the members of which work entirely without supervision and are denoted by a lettei “ H ” on the sleeve.

This is evidence that the Camp

Hill system is gradually spreading to other prisons. The governor also wants, to develop the “parole” system, whereby a prisoner may be temporarily released in order to visit a sick mother, wife, or other relative, which is likewise an extension an extension of a Camp Hill feature. Private visiting is encouraged, and persons interested in prison reform attend and lecture to or converse with prisoners, visit their relations, convey messages, and give advice. The two principal causes of crime, says the governor, are bad home influences (he declares that if girls were taught to cook better there would be less crime) and our wretched system of elementary education. He blames not only the system, but also the teachers, many of whom, he says, are incapable. On this, he is most emphatic.