PRISON CAMPS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 103, 30 April 1908, Page 5

PRISON CAMPS.

THEIR USE AND "VALUE. VARIOUS VIEWS. Every once in a while the .public is startled into a vague sense of disquiet by the announcement of an escape from j one of the prison encampments at Waiotopu and Waipa. And when that an- j nouncement is accompanied by the information that the escapee is a. long-sentence and perhaps dangerous prisoner, the disquiet has a very natural tendency to develop into indignant alarm and puzzled query. Are not those tree-planting prison camps intended for first-offending and short-sentence prisoners only; for men w"hose lapses have been the result of weak-yielding to sudden temptation, and for those whose expiation for their sins against society may be enforced under conditions as little-rigid as is ccsipatible with the law's requirements? This or a similar question is the one that rises to the lips of those who look to the law they support for the adequate maintenance of public safety, and it certainly requires answering. Opinions concerning the effectiveness of these camps and the general treatment of prisoners differ considerably among those best able to study .he situation. REFORMATIVE VALUE. "Well," said one official approached on the subject, "however you labour to perfect a system of "punishment for lawbreakers, to combine expiation with reformation, you must always be prepared to face little unexpected" flaws, in the subject as in the machinery. You cannot account for a sudden impulse that t will sometimes lead a prisoner wbo has ' only a week or two further to serve of a long sentence taking it into his head to abscond, and after having displayed the most exemplary conduct and patience during the whole of his imprisonment. ;It may be comparatively easy for such a man to escape from a "prison camp, because his record in custody has been such that considerable trust is' vested in him, and little privileges would probably be granted him that would never be allowed to a man who was considered unreliable "You ask how it is a long sentence man is to be found in one of these camps? Well, it is true that they were originally planned as a place where first offenders could be segregated from hardened criminals and "their contaminating influences. But a sufficiency of , this class of offender was not forthcoming, so, after careful consideration, it , was decided to pick out such prisoners as were regarded as trustworthy, and , who, by their conduct and general de--1 meanour, merited the privilege for the completion of their sentences at these forestry camps. And I think it can be i reasonably contended, taking into re- | spect the large number of men who have i passed through the camps, and the very I small percentage of escapes or attempts jat insurbordination. that the svstera j adopted has thoroughly justified "itself. ! When you consider that in a place like j Waiotapu, where 50 or 60 strong abieI bodied, well-fed prisoners are at com- | parative liberty under a small warder I guard, and the obvious opportunities of j escape that must exist, the moral influ- | ence of the trust imposed in the men is ] self-evident in their general demeanour I and recognition of the confidence placed in them."

Of course the question of prison system and reform has been a burning one I since long before the days of Howard, | and will probably remain so for a long time to come; but if it is possible to rebuild a man's self-respect, and one of the surest methods is to show him that he is still regarded as a man, then let us endeavour to rebuild it, for the sake or the State as much as for the individual. I am not one who thinks that a lawbreaker should be regarded as an object of sentimental pity and sympathy, whose lot, if he must be imprisoned, | should be made so comfortable that the irksomeness of gaol almost develops into pampered luxury. But I certainly hold that the reformative should be kept equally in view with the punitive, and that every encouragement should be afforded the man towards his ultimate regeneration. THE QUESTION OF CONTAMINATION. '"It goes without saying that a very careful selection is made of the prisoners drafted to the camps. Sometimes a man of good conduct will make application for a vacancy, and if it is practicable, he will be given a chance. But in most cases the men are chosen by the authorities. And, touching upon the question of first offenders and contamination in prison, many of these so-called first offenders can give points to the older criminals. As in the outside world, prisoners form little groups and coteries, and you will see that birds of a feather flock together, there as elsewhere. The man, who has an honest desire to work his way back to self-respect and citizenship, will instinctively choose a mate in prison as near as possible to his own heart, and so with the other. Weak natures and the pernicious influence of the bragging criminal hero upon such natures will, of course, always be a factor to be considered, but the vicious environment of prison life is not the saturating deterrent to reform that peo pie are led to believe. Many a man leaves prison a stronger and straighter individual than ever he enters. The regimen is arranged with the corrective end in view as much as possible. He has to work really no more than keeps him in good health, and if he is a man of any grit, he takes an interest in it. It becomes his hobby, and It is astonishing what deftness prisoners often display in picking up a handicraft. Gaol has been responsible for equipping not a few men with a trade. Then, although, a man is not paid here according to his expertness, as in some other countries, our! system contending that if a man is in for hard labour, that labour consists of whatever he may be capable to perform, a prisoner is accredited with conduct marks, which, in some cases, has furnished a man at the conclusion of a long term with as much as £10 or £12 with I which to start life again. In addition to this, he has always, the remission, of | sentence to work for, amounting to onefourth of his entire term, and in some cases special remissions are also granted. Unnecessary harshness of treatment is now considered obsolete, such punishments for misdemeanours as shackles and dark cells being a thing of the past. The curtailment of prison privileges and marks is almost without exception found to be quite sufficiently effective. There is, of course, a class of men who, out of bravado, will commit breaches of discipline and other offences for the mere purpose of posing as heroes in the eyes of their fellows. But, usually speaking, this sane man takes his punishment with the worst grace." ANOTHER VIEW. " A prison camp like Waiotapu was never intendted for long sentence prisoners, and never should it have "been made possible to send such men there as can

Ibe found in the camps; men who have J committed grave offences against the . person, and men whose law-breaking .exploits should recommend them more for a penitentiary than a semi-disciplined camp where, for several hours of the day most of the prisoners have jjractically unrestricted freedom." Such was the opinion of another official qualified to express himself on the subject. "' If they desire to maintain these camps as places of detention for men who have not seriously offended' the laws, or whose offence warrants a certain leniency of treatment, why not send such cases to them as prisoners serving terms for drunkenness, vagrancy, and other comparatively minor crimes—men who tre not- in the strict sense criminals, but who find their way to gaol from a rooted disinclination to work or over indulgence in liquor. To my mind it would be far preferable to send habitual drunkards to State tree-planting at Waiotapn than to a private institution like Bell's j Island. And reformative measures could : be carried out there just as effectively, ' and probi" " so. But to turn loose strong i "re or less vicious tend- l--encies i: p whose guard is little more tha :ual, is an act of prison administration that courts a catastrophe j which promises sooner or later to awake j public indignation to a point that will I' demand something more than explanation." I