"PEOPLE IN PRISON."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 46, 24 February 1937, Page 6

"PEOPLE IN PRISON."

WHAT ARE THEY LIKE?

(By D.)

That prisoners are not (although tliev are treated as) a class, but always individuals of differing histories, aptitudes and mental, moral and social development; that prison*) do not "reform" prisoners, and. in fact, make little or do attempt to do so: that prisons as known at present should be abolished, because "they do the community more harm than good, and. from the point of view of the inmate, they are soul-destroying and barbarons''—these, in the main, are the contentions of the author of "People in Prison," * a book written out of experience gained in* some ten years of social work among prisoners and ex-prisoners in New Zealand. It is in natriy ways a remarkable l>ook, for whether or not the reader accepts its conclusions, it is obvious that the author has gained the respect and intimate confidence of a wide variety of law-breakers, who have written or spoken to him frankly about themselves, their offences and their thoughts when in prison. Two Main Groups. In the author's experience, people in prison sort themselves into two groups—not according to what they have done, but according to what they are. "Members of the first group I have learned to call 'socially immature.' Sound they are, but limited as to development; full-grown in body, but aot, as yet, in social understanding. . . ." In the second group (much smaller than the first) are those "so 'wanting within.' so unbalanced, so deformed or diseased of personality . . . . that very, very special skill and safeguarding are required if ordinary good conduct can with reason l>e asked of them. Are they incurable? That we certainly have 110 right to say. considering how little we have understood, so far, even their plight. Had tliev been blind physically, or lame of leg or hand, we should long since have recognised that we owe them a special duty, which, as things are. we certainly do not discharge." By quoting freely from prisoners' letters the author leaves them, as far as possible, to tell their own stories. In perusing them the reader cannot but be impressed and moved, if only by one thing—the obvious joy of the prisoners, men and women, at being able to write freely to one whom they regarded as a friend. Miscarriage of Justice. This is perhaps most apparent in the case of a young man, "Roderick Dhu," who, upon release after nine years' imprisonment, "went straight" for a year, then was arrested and convicted 011 a piece of circumstantial evidence. Sentenced again to a term of "many years," he hanged himself in his cell next morning. He left a note written to the author, who asserts that the man was innocent, and that another man. years later, confessed to the crime. It is a terrible story, but the reader must wish that it could be confirmed.

'"In all that I have seen of 'reformed' men." says tlie author, "'reformation' has meant simply 'development,' the due development of each one along his own natural lines. It has been started, in each ease, by someone who has taken the trouble to find out. not the had. but the good, in the man —the good taste, the good desires already existing—and lias worked with them a# the foundation." The influence of women ?s especially important. "Tt is not possible," tlie author assert*, on another page, "to develop any human being normally in prisons, places, however clean and 'healthy.' which keep the victim away from the opposite sex, from children, from the sick, and from all the tenderer, socialising emotions, places which shelter him, too, from all responsibility or initiative. . . . You may keep him in the very best cold storage . . . but he cannot grow socially, and very often he doesn't really 'keep.' He simply goes bad." Radical Reforms Suggested. What would the author do if he could remake the prison system? First, he says, he would leave no stone unturned "to catch the offender every time, and to catch him quickly." Certainty of apprehension would deter a great many potential law-breakers who believe in their luck. Secondly, lie would have sentence passed only atter a consideration of the offender's social history and mentality, and, "in nine cases out of ten." probation—"not mere police supervision, but real, friendly but firm supervision in the community—would meet the case." In every case of dishonesty there should also be decreed as much restitution as seemed possible. The "tenth case" should have special treatment in a receiving moral hospital. The incurable should be the care "not of gaoiers but of specialists in another moral hospital, in dose touch with a mental hospital. There, if lie proved really incurable, he should remain for life." Such a system, the author contends, would prove, even with it-: specialists, far' less expensive than the old. "for it would eliminate the waste, human and material, as well as the contamination, involved in our too numerous in oral-la za rets.'' Needless to say. the author's proposals are far too advanced (some would say too wrongheaded) to win the support of a majority of people, ami it is likely that he is fully aware of that. But his book will do good if it stimulates interest in penal institutions, and leads to a wider realisation that the e.vistinjr system is far from perfect and that it can l>e improved if intelligent use is made of scientific knowledge, seconded bv the services of voluntary workers, of whose usefulness the author js an inspiring example. * "People In Prison," by T.I.S. (Unicorn Press.) ,