ON WAITING LIST.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 263, 5 November 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

ON WAITING LIST.

PRISONS CROWDED OUT.

If a man at Amiens commits an offence and is discovered', the mere fact that a magistrate orders him a term of imprisonment does not mean that he passes straight to his cell. There is a housing shortage m the local prison, and the accommodation being so limited, one has to book one s rooms well in advance!

What happens is that when a sentence is pronounced the offender is put on the waiting list, and when liis term comes he receives a nice note from the prison governor to the effect that if lie will present himself on the day specified the accommodation needed will be given!

£10,000 Winner. That, of course, can be awkward for the stranger within the gates, because he will have to maintain himself at his own expense in lodgings until the prison can take him in. There have been cases ol prisoners having to wait as long as live months before they can find vacant accommodation! . . , Perhaps the strangest case is that ol Paul Lacoste, floor waiter in a local hotel, who lifts drawn a prize of about £10,000 in a Government lottery. Paul threw up his job and instructed a builder to erect a nice little villa for him; but he has just received a polite reminder from the prison governor tliat he is on the list of those seeking accommodation in the prison, having been awarded a three months' sentence some time ago. and the cell is now" available. So Paul lias surrendered, and will be housed in the exclusive prison while the builders and decorators are giving the finishing touches to his new home.