MODERN PRISONS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4784, 3 December 1924, Page 1

MODERN PRISONS.

FIT FOR HEROES. (By “An Astonished Observer,” in the “Daily Mail.”) Thousands there are who scarce can tell Where they may lay their head, But warm and w'ell-aired cell, A bath, good books, and bed. This stanza is part of a rhyme written by a pirsoner on the walls of a cell in Reading Gaol, and it was written by a prisoner on the walls of control our prisoners took to coddling their charges as they have done since the war. Take such a prison as Dartmoor, where are confined recidivists commo’ni|y known as “old lags,” men who have served sentence after sentence, and who are for the most i art utterly irreclaimable. Twenty-five years ago a prisoner in Dartmoor had a sufficiency of very plain food, and did eight hours’ fairly hjird work daily. His clothes were warm and weatherproof, but decorated with broad arrows, and he wore a Glengarry cap on which were letters giving details of nis sentence. He was known not by name but by number. The Dartmoor convict of to-day iiS fed fai better than the average country boards of guardians can afford to feed the inmates of their institutions. Skilly is a thing of the past. Bread and butter, tea, cheese, and bacon are provided, while for the midday meal there is meat, with fi.esh vegetables, and on several days a week sweet puddings. On Fridays fish is served. The quality of the groceries, tea. cocoa, rice, sago, tapioca, and the fike, is all of the best. Broad arrows have been abolished; convicts need not wear Weir caps. Prisoners are addressed by name, not by number, .and warders have to be most careful in addressing them. The hours of work are barely seven, and it is laid down that fresh flowers must be kept in each hall. At Camp Hall, the prison of indeterminate detention in the Isle of Wight, prison luxury has run mad. The cells are light, roomy apartments, with windows that Open and shut. Prisoners are provided with safety razors; they eat together in a large, comfortable dining-room, and after the evening meal may enjoy a pipe and tobacco both provided by the State. Good-conduct prisoners get twopence a day pocket-money, whicn may be spent on luxuries in the canteen. The latest idea' is “holidays for convicts.” In July last some thirty "star'' convicts from Maidstone Gaol were sent to the Prison Hotel at Cam,? Hill, for three weeks. They lived under delightful conditions in what are more like cottages than prison cells, wore sailor caps and navy blue jackets, and met each evening in a smok-ing-room, where newspapers, books, tobacco, and cigarettes were allowed. One can imagine them toasting the taxpayer in the verse of the effusion previously referred to: Then to the British public—" Health” Who all our care relieves, And while they treat us as they do, They'll never want for thieves.