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New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 432, 3 October 1947, Page 5

Sir,-The Howard League for Penal Reform appreciates your notice of the pamphlet, ‘New Zealand Prisons: Conditions Exposed," but I, as one not directly concerned in its compilation, feel your "superior" tone and deprecatory treatment cali for comment. Your favourable remarks seem limited "to the words "It is not a violent pamphlet. . .", and then you add, "but it is sweeping." If by "sweeping" you mean that the 'pamphlet does not attempt to give a | balanced picture of the conditions with |which it deals, it is strange that you | overlooked most of ‘the statements repro- |} duced which bear on their surface evi/dence of the desire to be exact and just. | You overlooked also the care taken to | stress the difficulties faced in carrying ‘out reforms in the prisons, and te ) acknowledge the complexity of the prob|lems involved as well as the limited | scope of the pamphlet. You could have | quoted excerpts such as ". .. the penal

system in New Zealand remains in a curiously muddled state-an ineffective compromise between archaic custom on the one hand and a timid humanitarianism on the other." "The New Zealand prisons are not harsh, if compared with the prisons of last century, and instances of blatant cruelty are not numerous. .. ." "We are, of course, fully aware of the difficulties which beset the whole problem of penal reform. We can offer no easy panacea for the ills of the prisoner. . . ." The pamphlet also stresses throughout the differences that exist among the various prisons. You state that of the several "charges" made "not one ...can be held to be proved." I believe that the pamphlet does give a reasonably exact picture of the medical and educational conditions in the prisons, and there is plenty of evidence available té confirm this picture, but it is true that the "charges" that grave consequences followed lack

of proper medical treatment in the specific cases mentioned are not proved in a rigorous and complete sense. But are you not asking too much when you expect this? A pamphlet can normally only present a convincing case for fuller investigation, and point to the sources of further evidence. You might have stated that the facts of the pamphlet are presented in the form of signed statements from a number of men, all of whom in addition express their willingness to appear before a committee of inquiry. That these men, who in the opinion of the compilers are "reliable and intelligent observers," should allow their names to appear in print and undertake to substantiate their statements further is to any reasonable person prima facie evidence of their reliability. I suppose you would not suggest they are lying when they say they personally did not receive the detailed medical examination laid down in the Prison Regulations? From the sentence you quote from the pamphlet, "It is hard to convince the public that our penal authorities are making almost no effort to teform prisoners" (your italics) you ate led to favour the Howard League with a solemn warning of the dangers of crying "Wolf," and also to charge it with "turning querulous and sour." For you to find evidence of querulousness and sourness in the simple remark that it is difficult to arouse public opinion in these matters suggests that you have adopted the old trick of attacking the Howard League to distract attention from your poor case. ‘There would obviously be little need of such pamphlets as this if the public, or even the legislators, were

fully seized of the facts presented, and if they were not chronically liable to regard the prisons as satisfactory from an educative and reformative point of view simply because blatantly harsh conditions do not normally exist. The League stands by the statement that there is "almost no effort to reform prisoners" even though it may make you uneasy. The pamphlet does reveal the lack of educational and recreational facilities and of positive reformative procedures, as well as the long hours (two-thirds of each day) that the prisoner spends in solitary confinement, with little provision for the profitable use of the waking hours of this period. I conclude with the hope that your notice will cause many to read the pamphlet and judge the evidence for themselves. While the Howard League does seek to be the public "conscience" in regard to our prisons, its concern is not merely with prisons or prisoners, but with the prevention and treatment of delinquency and crime in the widest sence.