IN QUOD.

NZ Truth, Issue 76, 1 December 1906, Page 5

IN QUOD.

♦ PUNISHMENT OR CRASS CRUELTY? Gaoler who Works the Lone Fisherman Turn, and Leaves the Prisoners to Watch Themselves* Loutishness m Lousy Limbos. Stinking Meat aid Putrid Soup. No man goes to gaol lot fun. Some —usually bone idlers of broken down old men— will get put, there purposely to secure a winter shelter now and again ; but 'the average guest qt His Majesty's gaoler is so against his will as a punishment for wrong-doing. But when a judge of: a magistrate sentences a nian to imprisonment, he only means imprisonment,, with the usual tasks imposed. He does not pi> der torture, inSUlt, contumely, studied contempt, neglect m sickness and impositions for being sick, nor are vile vermin a Part of the penance imposed, by Justice; Yet it would appear from what reaches this office now and again that all these, and; more are added to ifche burden of .disgrace and confinement prisoners m some Nfew Zealand gaols have, to endure. Also some men placed m charge^ of gaols seem to have. very peculiar 'ideas as to what, constitutes their duty and what ought to be their conduct towards detinues. For instance, it is stated that it is a common thing for Ohief-warder-in-charfee Bryant, at Somes Island, to pull ofi m n. boat to fish, ; leaving eighteen prisoners practioally to their own devices. Another warder, Kearney, who is m ehairge at Point Halswell (commonly knowii as 'The Heads" gaol), has also fjueer notions as to what befits his office. When, recently, Ihspector-Gen-eral of Prisons Hume, after hearing a sick man's complaint, : left orders that lie was .to be ]nit to light tasks oiily ; the orders were not only not obeyed by Kearney, but he pooh-poohed them and insulted the man grossly — although any fool could have seen that he really was ill— asking him if he had not better have a priest than a doctor. Another detinue at this same gaol was suffering severely from bronchitis and beseeehed for a doctor m vain, while the pleas of other prisoners on his behalf also fell on deaf ears. For four days the poor wretch lav there m a cold_ cell without medical attendance, m fact a prisoner who has come out recently avers that during the whole six months he was there no doctor set foot m the 'gaol, though there was lots of sickness prevalent. Finally, the poor devil became so perilously ill that the heartless Kearney became alarmed for his own safety and the man- was bundled off to the Terrace gaol hospital ; beine. then sb far; gone that he had to be carried down to and aboard the boat. Any man who reports himself too unwell to go out oh the pick and shovel w_ork, is accused, by this highly intelligent official, of malingering, and is put on half ration — 4oz— of bread. Next day he is expected, thus shamefully weakened, to do a Rood day's work with pick and shovel. If he carinotr-which is. extremely probable under ■ the circiim&tances— he is iput on 'bread; and watefc, exclusively , a course' eniinehblv calculated 'to enable him to do. hard work and to, in*prove his damaged health ! Moireover, as a stimulant to toil and a cure for malingering; Kearney visits the sick -man m ins cell and reminds him tnat, by remainine: there he m losing marks and forfe-itine; his allowance of tobacco-. In short ( that he will be punished for. 'being ill,' On a. recent occasion when Friday's meat was found to be putrid on Monday and to have horribly tainted the soup* the men at the Heads refused to eat their dinner. The great Kearney rose to the occasion.- H© marched to the dining-room, the door was flune; open at his august approach and he dauntiessly strode m at. the head of a guard -of three warders with drawn batons ; though the men were only "passive resisters." He stigmatised their refusal to eat maggoty, green meat as "a, conspiracy" and decreed th^t they, ehould eg/t that or none ;, and he actually telephoned tn town asking the. authorities for leave to put the whole "crowd an half rations. His kindly request was met with an emphatic "No" ; at which Kearney's tender heart was much lacerated;; That there is gross neglect m the rnanagemenV qf our gaols is, undeniable. A roan was recently under remand, altogether, iuue. weeks. During that time he made frequent applications to be allow. cd a bathj but ex^cefyt once, near the end, .lie" was put off with ail sorts q! paltry excuses and. he was compelled to wear the one suit of. clothes all 'the time. During the period a, filthy, vermin-infested loafer Was brought m and boxed up m the remand y^rd with the rest, for two days, before the angry protests of the unfortunates-^many of who.jn m.ay well have, been innocent and Should be so considered until /found guilty of the charge they are held under— compelled the gaoler to shift the lousy reprobate. So foully dirty are the gaol premises tha.t actually " clean " changes of underclothing come to the wearers' hands crawling with body parasites. These are just a few of the comiilaihts that reach "Truth" arid it is evident that three is ample room for reform m the Prison system that renders, them necessary. Convicted persons are punished, under the law, by stated terms of imprisonment. There is no law that allows that they should he also subjected to callous nedect m sickness, contumely and the Certainty of acquiring vermin. such horrors existpd." "And he had been m charo-e of that church for eleven veal's"' eloouentlv commented the speaker. And he. went on to say that lie was afraid, short as was his experiences here, that there were cases of similar ignorance m "Wellington. Pathetic and humorous tales of mission work on The Rocks, filled the time with so keen an -interest that- when tire clock warned Mr Mathers that he had already kept them past, the ustial time, not one of his crowded audienfe but regretted the necessit** of closing. They could and would have "-larUv listened for another hour, even if the ler.turer's straight hitting did hurt considerably' now and again.