Earning Their Keep

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 718, 18 July 1929, Page 8

Earning Their Keep

Prisoners Turn to Agriculture

WORK is in itself the enemy of crime.” So said the great penal philosopher, Gabriel Tarde, who recognised that unemployment was a contributing factor in crime and that steady work made for better, morals. This principle has been effectively applied within the prisons of New Zealand, where the steady development oP industry is going far toward offsetting the heavy cost of criminal maintenance.

By making criminals work for their keep, the State is fulfilling a double purpose. The effect of their work upon their morals is self-evident when the men leave the grim grey walls after a sojourn at the pleasure of his Majesty. Its effect upon the prison balance sheet is also marked when the budget is prepared at the end of each financial year. Steady development of prison industry has been one of the objects of the Government for several years past, and although some of the trades and businesses established in this way have proved unsuccessful, and later have fallen into private hands, the revenue derived from the efforts of the prisoners increases every year, and is responsible for materially reducing the cost of prison upkeep. Mount Eden, incidentally, is the biggest contributor toward this fund. One of the principal objects in giving employment to the 1,500-odd men and women within the prison walls of New Zealand is to instil into them a sense of social and economic responsibility, and fit them to take a useful place in society when they are released. AGRICULTURAL WORK In a young and partially developed country like New Zealand, the activities most suited to this purpose are those closely associated with the primary industries, and with this fact always before them, the authorities have steadily pursued, the development of farming operations at Waikeria, Invercargill, Paparua, Wi Tako, and the breaking-in of the pumice land at Hauto and Rangipo. For the year 1927-28, which supplies the latest available figures, most of the industries showed a surplus upon working expenses, though one enterprise—the brickworks at Wi Tako —produced a substantial loss through difficulty in arranging satisfactory leases after the State had closed them. Altogethei', a profit of £38,792 was shown, when labour costs were disregarded, though if the cost of the prison labour, amounting to £51,301, were charged against the concerns, a net loss of £12,924 would be incurred.

This labour is regarded by the authorities as more or less a free item, however, because the State would have to keep the men in any case, and the profitable utilisation of their services is clear gain to the country. Within the walls of Mount Eden gaol is the biggest activity. The stone quarry, from which is drawn supplies of metal for Government works and for lc>cal bodies, yields about £12.000 annlially, while other trades which are carried on within the gaol—bootmaking, mailbag manufacturing, tailoring, and minor pursuits—keep busy the floating population of the institution, which ranges around 400 men. DANGER OF INTERFERENCE Many of the jobs undertaken, by prisoners are designed merely to supply the institutions with labour for necessary maintenance, such as breadmaking, laundering, gardening, and boot-repairing, and are a profit to the country only for the saving they effect by avoiding outside labour; but block and tile-making, labour contracts, road-making, sawmilling, and tinsmithing are all being tried by prison -workers with various degrees of financial success. There is always a possibility that wide extension of prison labour will antagonise enthusiastic supporters of “less government in business.” Cheap labour, they say, interferes with private enterprise. This possibility has not been overlooked by the authorities, who have over the past few years been concentrating more and more upon the development of the primary industries, for it is found that, apart altogether from the benefits derived by the prisoners from the out-of-doors work, the elements of competition which arouse hostility in the marketing of the produce of prison labour are not evident in the primary industries. Crystallised, the effect of the prison labour system has been to reduce the cost of the individual prisoner in one year from £B4 5s to £74 Ss —a drop of £9 17s a head. When spread over the 1,500 prisoners, this shows the financial effect of making criminals work for their keep while paying the penalty for their crimes.