Tuapeka Times AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 1874. "MEASURES, NOT MEN."

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 343, 1 April 1874, Page 2

Tuapeka Times AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 1874. "MEASURES, NOT MEN."

When his Excellency Sir James Fergnsson visited Otago, it will be remembered that he offered free and friendly criticism on onr iustitutions. Among those which came in for a fair share of outspoken but friendly comment was our prison discipline. The management of the Dunedin prison was. not, as he thought, all that cuuld be desired. Since the Governor's visit, the same institution has been criticised by another, but a very different character— the notorious Sullivan has been delivering himself on his experiences in Dunedin Gaol and on its discipline, which he did so much to thwart. Of Ids criticism, the "Southern Cross" of

March 11, writes as follows ;—"; — " His (Sullivan's) remarks about the manner in which the gaol duties are carried out at Dunedin are amusing, and he evidently has not a very high opinion of the strictness of the discipline observed there. He Btates that there is no place for solitary confinement in the Dunedin institution, and if Sullivan's descriptions are not far too highly colored, it is time that a little more strictness were observed by the gaol authorities at Dunedin." We, too, would have our say on this subject. Among the things most needed in our prison discipline, is a proper classification of our prisoners. The theory of mere punishment for offences has been long ago exploded. Force and constraint have nothing corrective in them, unless coupled with means fitted to be reformatory. We by no means advocate the abolition of punitive measures in dealing with criminals ; yet we do advocate the wise and judicious use of these. We would have all prisoners understand that they can be accommodated, if they fail to be amenable to rule, by the only kind of argument their brutal natures admit of, yet we would not resort to that too harshly or too frequently. We aro not aware that the discipline in the Dunedin prison is open to much criticism on this score. So far as our information goes, this view of the case is carried out. Further, in so far as that discipline subjects the prisoners to labor, and dismisses them competent afc least for pick and shovel work, it may be pronounced reformatory. Such as have served their term are dismissed with a talent to hand to earn their own living, and their return to crime is thus far rendered inexcusable. But where the defect mainly lies is in the want of proper classification of prisoners. The prisoner of a first term is associated with the inveterate jail-bird, and through contact with him is initiated into all the mysteries of crime reduced to a science. It would be infinitely better to preserve such from further contamination. Our authorities should not lend themselves to perfect the education of our criminals by this indiscriminate mixture of those of crime of all shades and decrees. Yet unintentionally on their part they are doing this very thing. But that is not all. The young in crime are by the present process as much exposed when set at liberty to the baleful influences of the hardened offender, as when within the walls of the prison. Go where they may, the old jail-birds are snre to come across them. Those know that they have already fallen, and it is, alas, too easy to shame such out of any purpose they may have formed to lead a different life There is nothing so difficult as for one to regain what has been lost by crime. Hence these inveterate criminals, able to claim acquaintance with the frail ones at a time when they wrought out their sentence under the eyes of all Dunedin, as in their shame thej' reflect; they have dope, may be easily led back to crime In the presence of such a tempter, they feel that they have crossed the Rubicon, and that nothing is left to them but to go on to the bitter end. The object of prison discipline, in so far as this is concerned, ought by every possible means to avert such a conclusion. Especially ought it to be so when it can be effected economically and well. The Government has at considerable expense increased the gaol accommodation at Lawrence, and as it is rumoured are about to take a step which will at once leave that accommodation unoccupied, and throw those who are working out a first sentence into contact with inveterate offenders. - Where they are there may be some hope of preserving them from worse crimes ; transfer them to Dunedin to mix with criminals of every class, if the above rumor prove correct, and the criminal bent, instead of being arrested, will become perfectly developed. Were there no accommodation in Lawrence gaol, and no gaoler to draw his salary, whether prisoners were under his care or not, the step the Government is about to take, if our information is correct, might be defended. ■" But with all these consequences likely to accrue, and no additional expense likely to be incurred by allowing them to remain in Lawrence, it seems to us that the Government are taking the unwise step of exposing these criminals to still deeper corruption in crime, and to the enhanced bad influences .of the criminal class ever afterwards. For the same reason also the up-country criminals, the average of whom are committed on a first charge, ought also to be transferred to Lawrence for trial, Everything ought to be done in prison discipline to prevent crime from spreading, and for the reformation of the prisoners.