NO PUNISHMENT

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 181, 2 August 1941, Page 6

NO PUNISHMENT

A JUDGE of the Supreme Court, after hearing all that could be .said for the prisoners in the recent gaol-breaking case, decided that the only effective punishment was the rod. The sentence was appealed against, and the Appeal Court, a Bench of Justices who have over the years proved beyond doubt both their clemency and their earnest desire for the reform of the guilty appearing before them, confirmed the sentence. The chief victim of the assault still bears the marks of the brutal treatment he received, and he will never be as sound in health again as he was before the , attack. Now the Government has decided that the judges were wrong, and has remitted the .sentence. Those on whom it was imposed have suffered no anticipatory qua'.ms; they felt certain all through that their crime would go unpunished. And they were right. But there is another aspect to the case m which the Government seems to have little interest, the encouragement to other criminals to similarly assault their guards. The excuse was made that the escaping gang acted on impulse. It did nothing of tne kind—it was a well thought rout and deliberate attempt, without mercy or consideration for anybody who got in the way. No matter how carefully prisoners are guarded, there will always be occasions on which they can combine for sudden attacks upon their guards. If they feel that assaults can be made without retribution, the lives of the warders will not be safe. If they are to be free from the only punishment some of them fear, the least that should be done is to segregate those of them who may be regarded as potentially dangerous in a separate prison, where effective precautions can be taken and where they will find it impossible to induce others to follow their desperate lead. ♦