RE–EDUCATION IN CITIZENSHIP

New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 767, 2 April 1954, Page 6

RE–EDUCATION IN CITIZENSHIP

The second and concluding part of a short survey of New Zealand’s penal system

BOUT three years ago, soon after he became Supervisor of Prison Education, A. F. McMurtrie, former Assistant Director of Education, outlined a plan for prison education in New Zealand. The aim was "to awaken in as many inmates as possible the will to be a better citizen." Mr, McMurtrie divided education into four sections: vocational education (including primary education for those needing it); education that disciplines the emotions Gncluding drama, music and art); education for leisure; and physical education. Much progress has "been made in putting this into effect. Vocational training was mentioned in last week’s article. Mr. MeMurtrie told The Listener that both Technical Colleges and the Education Department’s Correspondence Schools were used for a wide variety -of courses. A very recent development was the establishment of classes either in. the Prisons or at local technical colleges for inmates from Mt. Eden, New Plymouth, Waikeria, Arohata, Paparua and Invercargill. Subjects included dressmaking, typewriting and shorthand, music, art, current affairs, wood and metal working, machine-shop practice and physical education, Mr. MecMurtrie said there were fulltime teachers at Mt. Eden and Invercargill and part-time teachers at three other prisons. These took classes and individuals in primary education. Elsewhere help was given by the Correspondence School and voluntary helpers. "Help with educational and other work in prisons is given by an amazing variety of individuals and organisations," Mr, MeMurtrie said. "Prison officers also are becoming much more education conscious, and some with special abilities take extra classes, giving their time voluntarily in most cases." Mr. McMurtrie thinks that the effect of education in prisons in satisfying inmates, helping them to settle down and making them more susceptible to the other good influences at work is possibly more important than any use they make of it afterwards. "But of course," he said, "it’s good to see them carrying on with educational studies begun in prison, as I know some do." Mr, McMurtrie ‘visits all institutions about twice a year, and we were told at Wi Tako that he not only takes a general interest in educational facilities but gives help and advice to individual inmates. : The Listener found at both Wi Tako and Mt. Eden that recreational or cultural activity was going on almost every night. This included string and brass instrument playing, drama, concerts, chess, draughts, bridge, debating, cards, table tennis, basketball and bowls. Films are screened regularly, radio installations have been improved, newspapers for inmates are no longer censored, and prisoners are now allowed to keep a collection of books in their cells. Prison library books are changed three times a year by the National Library Service, and the request service is becoming widely used. Sports grounds have been impro-

vised, and engagements are played with outside teams-sometimes outside the prisons. There is a steadily growing programme of psychological treatment for prisoners who need it-many of them the product of wrecked homes or insecurity in childhood. Last September J. G. Caughley, until then Supervisor of Psychological

Services in the Education Department, transferred to the Justice Department to do full-time the

sort of work he had i been doing there part-time since 1948. As a psychologist he tries to visit Mt. Crawford, Wi Tako and Arohata weekly and to interview all prisoners committed for six months or more, as well as unusual cases referred by the Welfare Officer or Prison Superintendent. "I select those cases I think will respond for treatment by myself or part-time workers employed by the department," Mr. Caughley told The Listener. "Most of these cases are young first offenders. Others are referred by Magistrates, who make greater use now of this service. A few prisoners who seem to need just a little help are seen over a short period. Of course a psychotic-as distinct from a neurotic-prisoner is referred to a psychiatrist." Mr. Caughley said he was trying to work out through a, pilot scheme in the Wellington (fhough he also visits Waikeria and Christchurch occasionally) the best way of’ using a psychologist in prisons. At Auckland and Waikeria the department employs almost full-time a consulting psychiatrist, Dr. H. M, Buchanan,

former Medical Superintendent of Avondale Mental Hospital. Elsewhere similar help is given by the Mental Hygiene Division. . In recent years restrictions on prison visiting have been slightly relaxed, and at Wi Tako, for instance, prisoners and visitors are noAonger divided by a table _but sit around a visitors’ room or on a

lawn outside — though still with an officer present. Visitors are allowed to bring in parcels

which include toilet requisites, stationery, pipes, hobby materials, books and periodicals, photographs, fruit and up to three ounces of tobacco a week, but a prisoner receiving gifts of tobacco cannot also buy it in the canteen. Restrictions on letterwriting have also been relaxed. When The Listener visited Mt. Eden it met the Prison Welfare Officer, S. R. Banyard, and noting the relaxed attitude of prisoners towards him asked what changes he had seen in their attitude in the four years since he went there. He told us for a start that they were more natural in their speech, their attitude to authority, their dealings with each other and their demeanour with their own and outside visitors, Officers were also more natural in their attitude to inmates. In the second place the inmates were more open about their personal, domestic, and ‘prison-life difficulties, which they would discuss not only with him but with the Superintendent .and some officers. The work of the Classification Board, the

psychologist and others had _ greatly helped in creating this attitude. "On the whole there has been a very good response to amenities,’ Mr. Banyard said. "The system of Inmates Council; committees and prefects has encouraged inmates to accept responsibility and make individual decisions. This keeps them mentally alert and _ gives them_an insight into the difficulties of running the prison when some inmates are obstructive or set themselves against authority." The. Inmates. Council was established experimentally, with strictly Jimited powers, about three years ago to act as liaison between inmates and the Superintendent. *Minutes of its fortnightly meetings’ whicl® are pinned in each wing for all prisoners to see show that it discusses a variety of questions which, if unsettled, might lead to dissatisfaction among prisoners. Mr. Banyard. who has worked ‘in English prisons, told ,us that in, Mt. Eden last year he averaged 130 interviews a month, with prisoners arriving or about to be discharged, and on domestic and personal problems. He also sees prisoners’ families, at the prison, in their homes or in his own home. Those who speak sometimes of "soft. ness". and "more concern for the criminal than for his victim" in New Zealand prisons need not fear that the swing towards a more humane attitude has gone too far. Prisoners, after all, are still deprived of the greater part of their freedom, and all welfare amenities are privileges which they enjoy only if they

obey the rules, Punishments range from the reduction or loss of these privileges and the stoppage of daily pay, imposed by the Prison Superintendent, to bread and water and solitary cofffinement, imposed. by a Justice of the Peace or Magistrate. Loss of privileges means much. to a man engaged in the many activities found in prisons today, and in» practice the new liberties have not degenerated into license. There have been fewer offences against prison officers, and on the whole the visiting Justice has been called. on much less frequently than in the past. But for those who feel tempted to try their strength the solitary cell waits-a cheerless stone cubicle with a hard wooden pallet for a bed, without mattress or blankets during the day. Prisoners return to the community either on remission of.part of. their sentence, when they are free from further supervision, or-on the recommendation of the Prisons Board---on licence, under the supervision of a Probation Officer and liable to recommittal if their behaviour is unsatisfactory. The main task of the Probation Officer is to help the discharged prisoner resettle in the community. More and more pre-release work is being done with prisoners. Starting some time before discharge, this includes advice and assistance with employment. Prison Welfare Officers are doing most of this work in three institutions, and local Probation Officers in two others. ‘Welfare’ Officers were appointed at ‘Waikeria and Invercargill some years ago, but the scope of their work was ‘much. narrower then than’ now, there was no’ real link "between it and the work of the Probation. Service, and they had little guidance on their duties. Now, both Welfare and Probation Officers are spending much more time on individuals’ problems. For one thing, courts now ask more frequently for reports before sentencing offenders. If the development of pre-release work continues as the department hopes, it will soon be carried out in all institutions. This work, which is a development of the last few years, is closely related to post-release work. If, for example, a man released in Inver-

cargill is. returning.to. Hamilton, the Probation Officer there will have a full report on him, and the released prisoner will know that the Probation Officer is there to help him, and that he-has some idea what sort of man to expect. A man just out of prison usually has four main problems --~- employment, accommodation, finance and association. Employers are frequently not very willing to give him work, though officers of the Justice Department believe people are becoming more open-minded about this. Helped by Probation Officers, they meet. individuals and groups and do what they can to encourage a more humane attitude. A prisoner’s future work is kept in mind throughout his. sentence,. and before his release the Welfare Officer or local Probation Officer talks to him, notes his wishes, judges his capabilities and takes his past associations into account. Then he tries to find employment within a man’s capacity in a neighbourhood where he is unlikely to get mixed up with undesirable company. Accommodation. is not, of course, a problem peculiar to ex-prisoners, but it tends to be worse for them because so many of them have no real home life. Every effort is) made. to. find suitable accommodation for released men and to keep them out of bad accommodation. Accommodation ‘problems also affect association, for men will sometimes "team up" when they fisd it hard to get living quarters. Finance is not as great a problem as it used tobe, since 60 per cent. compulsory savings of prison wages should give most prisoners at least 3/6 a week savings. A long-sentence man should have up to £20 on release-enough for board for a week and perhaps same necessary clothes. If a prisoner is "hard up" on release and has no clothes he may be helped with clothes or (under a new scheme) a loan from the Probation Officer on a promise to repay at regular intervals. In any prison policy much depends on the men who’ put it into effect, and re-

cently there hag been a greater emphasis on selecting the right type of prison officer. There are still toa féw, but more applicants are coming forward, and incentives such as better uniforms and more _houses and amenities are being offered. The Assistant Secretary for Justice (Prisons), Commander H. R. Sleeman, told The Listener that men selected as prison officers must have a sincere interest in the work-it mustn’t be "just a job." Good versatile men~ of integrity, reasonable education and good physique were wanted. With more evening activity to supervise, a prison officer must be versatile and interested. He had found that exservicemen, who hada better idea of good discipline,, made the best officers. Training courses for: prison officers were begun about three years ago at Mt. Crawford Prison under a specially selected Chief Officer. Every new entry officer takes a month’s course as soon as possible after entry very many officers have had junior or near-senior courses, and courses for

very senior officers are proposed. Mr. Sleeman described the training courses as "an undoubted success." Prison Superintendents also meet in Wellington fairly frequently to hear details and developments of prison policy, air differences and exchange views, All prison officers are encouraged

to read and study, and they have the use of all the best books on modern penological practice and treatment, The establishment of a National Prisori Centre on the big estate at Waikeria is among major Proposals for the future of the prison system: in New Zealand. The Centre would include up to five institutions, from a. maximum security prison replacing Mt. Eden to an open bungalow type. institution, as well as a women’s borstal off the estate. These would be dispersed but still close enough to allow for greater coordination of effort. Administration, medical service, bakery and laundry would be centralised, and a full-time medical officer and chaplain would probably be appointed. All this would make for more economical, staffing and

better staff training, and allow for staff interchange and relief and fora much bigger body of men to become used to dealing with many different types of prisoner. Proposals for the future treatment of prisoners show that an interest in reform goes hand in hand with a belief in the value of severity in Justice Department policy. In his last annual report the Secretary for Justice, S. T. Barnett, suggested that reformative detention should in future give a corrective training for offenders up to 35 years of age who are comparatively inexperienced in crime, and that those sentenced to either borstal training or corrective detentionshould be imprisoned for an indefinite term with a maximum of three years. This would mean that a prisoner could be released just as soon as the Prisons Board decided he was again fit to take his place in the community. For habitual offenders the report proposed a system of preventive de-tention-long fixed sentences-which. it suggested would give the community fuller protection than the system of declaring offenders to be habitual criminals; and at the other end of the scale it put forward a plan for a detention centre for young offenders who are unlikely to respond to probation but do not need the long-term training of a borstal institution, There, it is thought, they might come to their senses under a short, skarp sentence-three months under a spartan regime with very few privileges.