Prison Population

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 255, 18 January 1928, Page 8

Prison Population

MOUNT EDEN’S HEAVY SHARE

Campaign for Removal

MOUNT EDEN GAOL, Standing- grim and square in the heart of Auckland, is New Zealand's largest prison. Within its walls languish, during the terms of their confinement, the worst criminal characters in the country. But, by the borough of Mount Eden, this is regarded as no proud distinction, and it hopes, some day, to see the establishment removed.

A PROGRESSIVE community must always I'eel that a gaol planted in its midst lias certain obvious disadvantages, which in Auckland have been a constant concomitant of the city’s development. In tlie early days the crude lockup was on the corner of Victoria and Queen Streets, just where Selfs drapery business stands to-day. Outside the door were stocks in which petty offenders could be made

to suffer abject humiliation in the sight of the scornfulpy righteous, and at the back, where the Royal Hotel now stands, was an eminence which commanded the prison yard and permitted the citizens to be among those unofficially present on those gruesome occasions when capital punishment was administered.

In 185 G, when the prison was moved from the centre of the growing town, and established on the present site at Mount Eden, the move appeared to take it to the borders of the wilderness. The gaol now fulfilled the requirements of peaceable burgesses who resented the possibility that an escapee might at any moment be plundering their pantries or clamouring at their doors. Unfortunately, the rapid extension of suburban Auckland soon drew the gaol back into a populous zone, and the cheerful immunity was banished.

The gloomy walls of idle existing gaol were not raised until the early seventies, but the task, once undertaken, was executed thoroughly. There is no more massive building in the country than the great, grey prison, with its walls sometimes IS feet in thickness, and the whole plan ccnceived on an almost feudal scale.

But its size and sinister majesty <lo not impress tlie good people of Mount Eden. Chances of escape, even under the rigid control of efficient prison authorities, are not altogether negligible. Moreover, however impressive the building, it is no adornment to a smiling suburb. The Mount Eden Borough Council proposes shortly to ask that the removal of the prison from Mount Eden be an integral feature of any town-planning scheme developed to cover the Auckland metropolitan area, and when a metropolitan town-planning board is instituted, the council will probably present a report on the subject. Mr. E. H. Potter, Mayor of Mount Eden, said to-day that the Government had not yet been approached, but a move would probably be made fairly soon. They considered the gaol was at present occupying an altogether unsuitable site, and that it would pay the Government to move it, as the land would now be very valuable. Much of the building material could again be utilised, while replacement costs would be offset by the fact that the new prison would be of a much more modern and convenient type. CAPACITY HOUSES Mount Eden’s important share in the accommodation of New Zealand’s population is disclosed by the latest statistics dealing with prisons and prisoners. Excluding police lock-ups, there are 18 prison or detention establishments in the Dominion, and the daily aver age number in confinement is 1,366. Of this figure, Mount Eden’s share is 413, a high proportion. The next largest institutions are the Invercargill Borstal institution, and the Wellington gaol, both a good deal smaller. In the 192 S Year Book the number for whom Mount Eden has accommodation is stated to be 395, so a few extra beds —possibly “shake-downs" —must have been squeezed in to bring the daily average up to 413. It is interesting, in reviewing the statistics, to note that at the end of 1926 the proportion of prisoners to every 10,000 of the Dominion’s population was 10.11, the highest “in 10 years. Since 1917, indeed, the proportion appears to have been steadily rising. In 1919 it was only 7.5. Minor features are the fact that of 2,755 prisoners received into prison during 1926, 150 were females, and 404 were between the ages of 20 and 25. Those born in New Zealand numbered 1,564, a low percentage in ratio to total proportion of population. England and Wales supplied 510 of the total, and among the remainder were 15 Chinese and one man who was born at sea. Of the diverse collection, Mount Eden shelters nearly one-third, leaving the rest to be distributed among the smaller prisons. There are some, of course, who sleep in prison cells but are not necessarily gaolbirds. The lock-ups at such tourists resorts of Russell and Taupo have occasionally been thrown open to benighted trippers. But such privileges are not extended at Mount Eden.