PRISON SYSTEM

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 64, Issue 32, 17 November 1943, Page 5

PRISON SYSTEM

DR. McMILLAN’S STATEMENT. SIR HUBERT OSTLER IN REPLY. (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Nov. 16. In a statement to-day Sir Hubert Ostler commented on remarks made by Dr, D. G. McMillan, a former Minister in charge of prisons, in reply to Sir Hubert Ostler’s statement of Saturday.

“It was not my intention to enter into a personal controversy with Dr. McMillan, but only in the public interest to state the facts,” Sir Hubert Ostler said. “Dr. McMillan’s first reply is that as the Prisons Board has no administrative authority, I could have no knowledge of prison administration. I venture to say that I have seen a great deal more of the inside of prisons during my four years as chairman of the board than ever Dr. McMillan did during his short term as Minister. He does not appear to be aware that, in addition to the reviewing of sentences, one of the statutory functions of the Prisons Board is to report annually to Parliament on the operation of the Crimes Act, and other relevant statutes in relation to prisoners, and in this connection the board is interested in. all phases of administration.

Mount Eden Incident,

“Dr. McMillan complains of the charge I made that his administration was responsible for the Mount Eden trouble, and he is at pains to explain that that brutal assault was the result of non-observance of prison rules. In excusing hilmself in Parliament he made a similar statement, alleging that ‘the incident would not have happened if warders had followed the routine’ (see Hansard, 1941). When the Hon. Mr Mason, in reply, quoted Dr. McMillan’s own public statement, as Minister at the time, that ‘the customary routine had been observed and there was no lack of care and vigilance on the part of the staff,’ Dr. McMillan interjected that if he could get access to the file he could establish his point. When chairman of the Prisons Board I had access to files, and I am able to state positively that the files reveal nothing that would suggest that there had been any failure on the part of warders in the observance of the prescribed routine. The files do reveal, however, that there was ‘a state of unrest’ in the prison which was attributed by the controlling officers to the undermining of discipline through the actions of the Minister.

Minister’s “Strange Conduct.”

“Mount Eden was not the only prison where there was trouble at the time. There was also criminal assaults on warders at Invercargill and Paparua, and serious acts of insubordination ip other prisons. These were attributed by the officials entirely to Dr. McMillan’s strange conduct. He went to various prisons, accompanied only by a stenographer, and interviewed prisoners in private. What took place at these interviews is not known but it is known that immediately afterwards, many of the prisoners became insubordinate. The prison staff in several gaols had much difficulty in enforcing discipline. I do not suggest that Dr. McMillan intended to cause any such trouble by his actions, but he ought to have had enough good sense to know that that method of Dying to arrive at the truth was mischievous and dangerous.

“It will be noted that Dr. McMillan has somewhat shifted his ground. His main statement made at Dunedin was that our Borstal Institutions were purely institutions for the manufacture of criminals. When met with the statistics, showing that 80 per cent, of the inmates never come hack, lie remains silent. The public can draw its own conclusions. , He now admits that psychiatrists are used, but says they gye not used sufficiently. That statement shows ignorance of the true position op. his part. He has probably never perused the Prisons Board file. If he had, he would have known tl at in every case where there was H e slightest suggestion of impaired mentality, or where specialist guidance in the matter of treatment might be helpful) the services of psychiatrists are procured from the fine staff of alienists in the Mental Hospitals Department. Common Rooms. “I stated that practically all prisons have a common room. In every prison erected during the last two decades special provision has been made for this, and there is a common room also in every prison camp. It is quite true that at Mount Eden there is no common room, but there is a schoolroom and a chapel, and both of these are used for the purpose of cinema entertainments, concerts, lectures, etc. “Dr. McMillan states that because I made no special mention of the fact that the/e is no common room at Mount Eden it was therefore n.<t surprising that I did not r ecali any changes in prison administration made by him. I did not claim ihat the statement I made of the more or less trivial reforms he had inaugurated (if indeed they could be so called) was exhaustive, but l am confident that he cannot point to one other reform that was introduced during his term of office.”