COOL AND COLLECTED

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 8, 1 September 1931, Page 5

COOL AND COLLECTED

CONDEMNED CRIMINALS GOVERNOR'S EXPERIENCES. Retiring from the position of Governor of Wandsworth Gaol, after 30 years in prison service, LieutenantGolonel Charles E. F. Rich, D.S.O., has many interesting recollections. In the course of his experience he has met all types of eriminals. • "It has always astounded me," he stated, in an interview, "to find murderers so cool and collected even when they know there is no hope of a reprieve." He added: "I have never known a murderer to give way to despair in the condemned cell, and I h^ve neyer known one falter on his way to the gallows. No one can tell what are their innermost thoughts, but I have always found them, to all outward appearances, quite uumoved." "Hanging a man is an unpleasant job," declared Golonel Rich, "but it has to be done. I would not abolish capital punishment for the worst class of murderers, but I do think there should be various degrees of murder, and that the punishment should he graded according to the enormity of the crime." Golonel Rich, who has had a distinguished career as a soldier-^-being mentioned in dispatches on five occasions during 1914-19 — was particularly active in bringing about reforms for the henefit of the young wrongdoer. While at Borstal, Colonel Rich made many sweeping reforms, and introduced holiday camps for welibehaved boys. It was at his suggestion that the old Dehtors' Prison at Wakefield was converted into a place where lads of suitable age could be trained under the modified Borstal system, then in the early stages of trial. Golonel Rich has seen many changes in prison life since he joined the service, but he is not sure they are all for the best. "It seems to me there is a tendency to be too 'sloppy' over prisoners," he deolared. "Concerts and iectures are all very well, but a man should be made to earn the privilege bf 'attending, and he should not be aliowed to expect such relaxations as a right." Then there is a tendenoy to relax discipline, and there is too much foolish sentiment wasted over prisoners. •"I am the first,„to agree that the man who wants to go straight should be given every chance, but at tbe same time it as well to remember that there are hundreds of blaokguards in the prisons of the country who. have no intontion of leading an honest life."