TREATMENT OF CONVICTS. Need for Full Enquiry.

Free Lance, Volume II, Issue 76, 14 December 1901, Page 8

TREATMENT OF CONVICTS. Need for Full Enquiry.

IT is to be hoped that prompt effect will be given to the rider brought in by the jury m the case of Edward Wilson, the convict who escaped from the Point Halswell labour gang He complained that a particulai warder had made a ' set' upon him, and had treated him with such constant harshness that, in sheer desperation, he tried to escape, and was careless whether he lost his life or not in the attempt He also alleged that other prisoners were suffering the same kind of treatment. The man made his statement m a temperate way, and the jury put on recoid their opinion that his remarks ought to be inquired into Mr Justice Edwards expressed his concurrence with that opinion, and pnor to that, in his summing up, he took occasion to point out that the ai resting constable (Glass) had been guilty of a serious error of discretion in making a violent attack upon the prisoner in effecting his arrest Of course the statements made by an escaped convict are to be received with caution. He would naturally try fco palliate his conduct by offering some excuse for it, and a charge of cruelty against one of the warders who had him m charge would be as plausible and likely as any. • • » On the othei hand, the man s complaint must not be brushed aside or pooh-poohed merely because he is a pusoner in His Majesty's gaol It demands the strictest scrutiny The prison gang who are employed at Point Halswell are removed from the vigilant supervision of Gaoler Garvey and if a warder were disposed to be tyrannical he might gratify ins desires with more impunity there than within the precincts of the gaol • • * These prisoners who are kept at Point Halswell should be subject to just as regular visitation by justices as are those immured within the prison walls At present this is not the case No facilities are afforded for such visits. Now, that the matter has been brought pointedly under the Minister's attention, we hope it will not be lost sight of Edward Wilson's complaint may be groundless, but it demands investigation, and, at any rate, it is high time means were provided to enable the justices of the peace to pay regulai visits to the convict establishment at Point Halswell. Petty abuses are most apt to grow up and

flourish in places screened from public observation • • • Mr. Arnold, one of the visiting justices of the Wellington Prison, has written to the press suggesting that all the visiting justices should be invited to attend the official inquiry, presuming one is held. There is much to be said in favour of it. In any case, the inquiry should be conducted by some independent authority