NEW ZEALAND'S CRIME 'VARSITY

NZ Truth, Issue 1206, 10 January 1929, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND'S CRIME 'VARSITY

Novices In Wrong-doing Tutored ky Old "Lag" Professors POST-GRADUATE COURSES IN SAFE -BLOWING Sidelights On Secret Classes In Mount Eden Gaol

IN short, Mount Eden prison is a university of crime, and the clever young prisoner, m for the first time, can, if he listens to all he hears, leave the gaol an expert. Prisons have lost their terror and gaolers their power to inspire it — and rightly so,' from the humanitarian point of view — -for the criminal who goes "inside" m these days loses nothing but his liberty. Ex-prisoners who haye talked about their experiences have' provided, much interesting information concerning life m prison, which, m spite of all its disadvantages, certainly does not fit m with the popular conception of what life inside Mount Eden gaol is like. The name of one ex-prisoner who recently was interviewed is withheld from publication for. obvious reasons, but it can be stated that he is now a respectable member of society m a good job and earning an honest living. He has paid for his crime and has no complaints to make. His sentence was a fairly long one, but he never found time dragging. Praise For Warders When he was arrested for the crime, to ) which' he pleaded guilty,, he wondered what the. future held m, store. The prospect of prison that stretched before him was clouded by grim doubts and fears, but when at last he passed through the heavy gates that shut him off from the world he entered an environment which he was soon to find was not so dull and barren of hope as he had imagined. With -very few exceptions, he found the warders were human and not without kindly feelings. The food, while not what one would expect to find m an hotel, was plentiful, wholesome, and reasonably well cooked, although the diet became monotonous. He found that he was allowed books and magazines to read; he could attend lectures and occasionally enjoy a concert, while during the day it was possible to exchange views with fellow-prisoners. "There is no risk of a prisoner becoming dumb through lack of speech with his fellows," was how the exI : — — "~ How To Pick Locks I ■; - ■■; ;.■ • prisoner described it. Every man has his own allotted task to do and is not sweated m the discharge of his duties. He is allowed periodically to have visitors, although .the meetings between prisoners and relatives are semi-public with warders hovering m the background. There are. even cells m which two or three men may be housed. The whole prison system is supposed to be informative and m a way educational, but as -"Truth's" informant pointed out with a smile, the education a man picks up m gaol is not the type to serve the best interests of society and the- property of the law-abiding citizen. The gaols, he declares, are first-class training schools m the art of qi'ime. I have learned more about picking locks and how. "to do a job" m Mount Eden gaol than ever I learned outside, and the knowledge I picked up there is picked up by practically every man who enters the prison." < ■ But this particular "ex- convict is not intrigued by his expert knowledge of crime. "No more of it for' me," he. said.

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Auckland Representative.)

Mount Eden Gaol, Auckland, has the distinction of being the leading school of crime m the Dominion. Behind those grim prison walls is taught to young and budding criminals all they can possibly know about the gentle art of safeblowing, lock-picking and other side-lines of crime. And the teachers— real Professors of Law-breaking, who impart instruction — are the hardened criminals. In the re-' inand yard it is possible to .obtain a course of instruction m the art of appealing to a judge for a light sentence.

"The game is not worth the candle and I have put it all. behind me." ; He also professed to an intimate knowledge m the gentle art of safeblowing. "And all I know about it I picked up inside.' 1 - From what he had to say, it would seem that there is a i-egular system of instruction- by hardened "lags" strictly "under the hat," of course, with young and tyro criminals, either willing or unwilling pupils. ■ ■ : For the modern hardened criminal has one weakness peculiar to his type, and that is vanity. He is proud of his exploits, and never loses an opportunity of holding forth about them provided he can get a receptive audience. Tbere are actually old "lags" who, when they find themselves m the remand yard, take it upon themselves to instruct the young crooks who are to face a judge for the first time exactly what to say to the bench should they not be . represented by counsel. These experienced "instructors'^ treat every case on its merits and according to the make-up of the pupil to be instructed. And then, having

decided the line of appeal likely to impress the judge most favorably, the tyros are taken m hand and told what to say. . Siciv and broken-hearted mothers, loving wives, bedridden and dependent fathers and consumptive and wholly dependent sisters are invoked with a glibness that would bring the tears to the eyes of all who did not know the tricks of the criminal. "Truth" reported a case some two years ago of a young criminal making his first bow to a judge, who dramatically produced a tattered Bible m the dock and appealed to the judge on religious grounds. He had been "schooled" m the remand yard, but m this case the yard was not at Mount Eden gaol. There is no phase of crime that is not touched upon by these ■"professors of law-breaking." For the most part they are criminals who are lost to all sense of reform and 'have definitely fixed views about what they intend doing once they are. released. A short liberty, a "job" or two, and a good time, on the spoils until they are roped m once more is the ambition of such men, whose influence on young mi'iii'ii'i'ii'iMiiiiii'iiii'i iiiiiimimimiiiiiiimiiiui hi m tiiiiiniuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitii inn

prisoners is as bad as it can be. "Once a man has been m prison it ceases to hold any terrors for him," is what the average prisoner has to say about it. , . "N.Z. Truth" knows several 'lexprisoners m Auckland, and they usually tell the same story. The punishment of , the modern gaol is not such as to inspire fear. Provided a man can obey the rules and escape "solitary" on bread and water, he has, for a prisoner, a reasonably good time under gaol conditions. One of the best-behaved prisoners m Mount Eden gaol is Peter Mouatt, who is serving a sentence of 17 years for the manslaughter of his wife m Christchurch m 1925. One ex-prisoner described Mouatt to "Truth" as "one of the nicest and quietest chaps you could wish to meet." Mou.att is working m the prison bakehouse, or, was until recently. It is not generally known that the prisoners are allowed to smoke. They are allowed one stick of tobacco per week and one match per day; but under certain conditions — rgood conduct and so forth— a prisoner may earn ah'

allowance of two sticks of tobacco per week. • '.'■■'..:. On Saturday afternoons and on ' Sundays between certain hours the men are allowed to fraternize within strict limits, and visitors are permitted once a fortnight. The bulk of the work is done m the quarries. There is the bakehouse, •where' some find work, and there is a tailoring department where some twenty prisoners are engaged. Recreation, reading and a certain amount of liberty within the gaol walls — such is life as it is lived m the modern prison. But there is nothing ' informing, about it. All the ex-prisoners seen by "Truth" from time to time are agreed on that point. . V A man serves .his sentence and he goes out into the world once more, little better than when he entered it,: except that he has learned more about crime than it would have been 'his lot to learn had he never been, "inside." Some men are able, through having good friends outside, and by virtue of their own strength of character, to forget what they learned m gaol and to steer their course along the paths of honesty once they are released. iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiJiiMiiiiiiiiiiii

Others, and they are many m number, seek to turn their knowledge of crime^ to good account on release, and that is partly the r,eason why so many drift back again. This remark applies more especially to the prisoner who is instinctively arid traditionally predisposed to crime. But when a man comes out of gaol with no friends to greet him and with no work m prospect, it is no wonder that he seeks to put into practice jthe art' of breaking safes andjpicking locks, m which he has been tutored, m prison by hardened ■ /lag's. . ; _; ; ; ' . ■ , : In Mount Eden gaol are congregated all .the long-sentence men. There you wjll find: murderers, morons, safeblowers, forgers, company swindlers, and every type of criminal that breaks the laws of the land. On the whole, they are a fairly happy and contented lot. ' There .is some attempt; at least to treat them like human beings, arid they are allowed privileges of reading, smoking ' ' ■■■ i ■ Hardened Criminals and discussion with their fellows that make all the difference, between a living hell and a sufferable quarantine. But while the hardened crook who is past redemption is as much entitled to humane treatment .as the. first offender, that is no reason why he should be permitted-* to corrupt embryo criminals and make them as lawless as himself. . . ' .The old "lag" rubs shoulders with the young nan m for. his first crime; he tells the young man all that he should , not know, and then , society wonders why crime m- • . creases. ; ' ,_.'• ■' . .. . ".• ' , '■. ; It is no wonder, and the so.on.er the prisons: Department looks into .the whole question and evolves some system under which the hardened_criminal will be segregated, the better for all' concerned. ~ ■■ And what about the morons -and sexual offenders? Are they segregated? "Truth" understands that they are not. Here again is a source of contamination from which young ofSpot** or at ion Nprp^siifv fenders who can and ; 'cquld be refoi-med should be saved. ■ "'■'•' '* ' <: To herd all manner of offenders together is surely a ridiculous policy which has nothing whatever to commend it. It is right, and proper that prisons should not be the abodes of despair arid' brutalizing . influence they once were, but all the good- that is done by humanitarian principles m the conduct of gaols is likely to be undone as a result of the freedom of speech 1 , among prisoners without any classification of i offenders and segregation of particular ! types. ' ■ These are questions that should be handled by the Prisons Department. It is.; hot in 1 the public .interest that the •gaols should be the training ground for criminals, as they kre, and a proper system of classification and segregation of prisoners would do much' to, remove the reproach. '.' When ex-convicts can smile. and give an assurance borne of first-hand knowledge that to know all there is to know about crime, it is necessary to go .to Mount Eden gaol to qualify it is obvious that something is wrong which should be remedied without delay.

iiuuiuiiiiitiiniiiiiiitiuutiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiniuiiiiimiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiriiiiiimimiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiliiiiii