REPORT OF THE GAOLS COMMITTEE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5497, 8 November 1878, Page 3

REPORT OF THE GAOLS COMMITTEE.

The Gaols Committee, appointed to'inquire into the present state of the gaols of 1 ;' the colony, and the improvements necessary to enforce proper classification and discipline, have the honor to report as'follows:— 1. At present the Government exercises no real control over the gaols and gaol officers. Every gaol in the colony is—subject to the law and regulations issued from time to time by the Governor—managed to a great extent according to the views and experience of the gaoler, the only check upon the action of that officer being the supervision of the visiting justices. These gentlemen take, in different parts of the colony, different views of their position ; and whereas in some gaols their visits are frequent and regular, iu others they are few and far between. Though the services of the visiting justices are most valuable* and indeed indispensable, as independent and unofficial visitors, it is impossible that they should supply that sort of inspection and control which it is necessary that the Government should keep in their own hands. A punishment inflicted in one part of the colony, though nominally the same as that inflicted in another, is really a totally different punishment. In technical matters, and with respect to a great deal of the discipline and conduct of the gaol, the visiting justices must necessarily be, to a great extent, in the hands of the gaoler; while there is no control or audit whatever of the Government stores in gaols throughout the colony. The first essential step towards a reform in prison discipline and management is an efficient system of Government inspection. The inspector should be a man thoroughly trained in principles of prison management, and should not have been connected with any gaol heretofore established in New Zealand. 2. Since the report of the Royal Commis.sion on prisons in 1868, little or nothing has been done towards classification of prisoners. The enlargements of the local gaok have not much more than kept up with the increase of crime consequent on increased population, and further accommodation is urgently needed to carry out the recommendations of that commission. No adequate distinction can at present be made between the treatment of penal-servitude and hard-labor prisoners ; and fir-fc offenders sentenced for comparatively alight ' offences are associated with bid and hardened criminals. In some gaols young women who had borne good moral character previous to conviction, have been associated with women of utterly depraved character and habits, and juvenile offenders of both sexes have had no separate accommodation provided for them. Classification of prisoners cannot be satisfactory so long as penal-servitude men are confined in the same prisons as other offenders. If a penal-servitude gaol were established, and long-sentence prisoners were drafted out of the existing prisons, there would be room enough, in most cases, to classify the other prisoners ; and with a few improvements suggested in the evidence appended to this report, these gaols would for some time meet the requirements of the country. This would be the most economical and effective mode of providing the further accommodation necessary.

3. The mark-system adopted in 1875 is working well, and has had a good effect on the prisoners, but it cannot be properly carried out until there are opportunities for classification, and regular supervision and inspection to secure fairness and uniformity iu tbe'system of marking. The committee desire to record their opinion that the crank, the treadmill, and other kinds of unproductive labor should not be resorted to ; that, as far as possible, the industry of prisoners should be stimulated ; that their marks should be gained iu proportion to the work they do j and that, as in English gaols, it should be possible to earn a small sum of money by industry, so that a prisoner on his discharge might have some means of starting in life. In the hard labor gaols marks and exertion money should be earned from the commencement of the sentence. Those prisoners who from health or early habits are unfit for bard manual labor should be made to work in their own trades, or taught a trade if they have not got one. 4. The provisions for teaching are very insufficient in moat of the gaols, and the accommodation for religions services inadequate. In the larger gaols one of the warders should be competent to act as a schoolmaster for elementary teaching. 6. The pay of the gaol officers, and their number in proportion to the prisoners, has been very different in the different provinces ; the pay being highest in Otago, and lowest in Auckland. Taking the four principal gaols in the colony, the average cost of official salaries per head of prisoners, as given in the evidence appended to this report, is— Auckland £l7 9 I Wellington 25 12 8 Lyttelton 22 16 4 Dunedin 53 ». 2 Thus it appears that the cost of official salaries at Dunedin is double that at Wellington and Lyttelton, and three times that at Auckland. These inequalities create a sense of injustice among the officers, and render it difficult to transfer and promote officers from one gaol to another. As the question of pay has been to the committee, they recommend the following scale of salaries in the four principal gaols—viz., Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton, and Dunedin: ' .

Gaoler, £3OO and house, with £5 a year additional for each year of service for twenty years. Chief warder .. .. - - ..£-00 0 0 Ist class warders . • 100 0 0 ' 2nd class warders 100 0 0 3rd class warders 110 0 0 All overseers, trade-instructors, and other officers to rank as warders. Quarters to be provided for officers; where this is impossible, allowance to be made according to locality, uot exceeding £25 per annum. For secondary gaols Gaoler, £2OO and house, with £5 a year additional tor each year of service for twenty years. 2nd and 3rd class warders, £l6O and 140 respectively. A large number of small gaols, really not much more than lock-ups, but proclaimed gaols for public convenience, to remain under charge of police. In adopting any general and uniform rule, it will be necessary to take into exceptional consideration the case of a few old provincial officers, who have been for years in receipt of larger salaries. The number of warders in proportion to the number of prisoners must depend to a certain extent on the position and accommodation of each gaol. As a general rule it will be found that, in existing gaols, warders, including subordinate officers of all kinds, should be in the proportion of one to eight prisoners. 6. There are several questions connected with the discipline of particular gaols to which the attention of the committee has been drawn, but which it has been impossible to investigate this session. The papers are referred to the Government, with a recommendation that strict inquiry should be made concerning them.