PRISON REFORM

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 272, 16 November 1943, Page 2

PRISON REFORM

ADVANCES ABROAD

LEAD TO DOMINION

(By W. S. LOWE)

Doubtless individual points of criticism of New Zealand's methods of handling prisoners may be countered by those interested to do so, but nothing can alter the fact that modern experiments overseas have a record in the actual reformation of prisoners. It is hot the piecemeal reform of particular methods which is in question, but the entire approach to the causes and cure of crime. Criminologists and penalologists in countries where lengthy and intensive study has been given to the prevention and cure of crime are agreed that not only the individual but the society which produces him must accept some responsibility for a criminal's activities. There are obstinate, exceptional cases, but it is now held in enlightened circles that environmental causes, such as poverty, bad training or inadequate education, are major causes of crime; crime is a disease to be cured, and the criminal, no less than the society on which he preys, is its victim. Society's duty is not merel}' to lash out in retribution, but to so control and re-educate the criminal that his disease will be cured and a decent citizen created. English Methods In England the modern appropch to the problem is being increasingly adopted by the authorities. Unless prisoners show themselves unresponsive to such treatment it is becoming the general rule for lawns and gardens (cared for by the prisoners) to replace the traditional bare exercise yards; prisoners eat together, and not in their cells. Tablecloths and flowers replace bare boards; smoking and talking are permitted. . Those with good records are made responsible under a sort of prefect system for the good behaviour of others, and their qualities of leadership and self-respect consequently developed. Lectures and courses of instruction are arranged, not merely for the entertainment of the criminals, but to turn their minds to healthy and constructive thought. Suitable prisoners may even arrange to take university courses to assist in their rehabilitation into honest life on release from prison. Trades are taught for a similar purpose. The sceptical will resent this "pampering," failing to recognise that the method must be justified or condemned not on the basis of past practice or ingrained prejudice, but on its results. These are thoroughly convincing. For example, of many thousands who have passed through the prisons controlled by Walter Young, one of the reforming governors, only seven per cent have ever returned to prison. Such statistics are persuasive. Prison Without Walls Another country which has an enlightened penal policy is Sweden. Her most famous prison is at Singeshult, where a farm of 200 acres is administered as a model prison. There are no walls or bars, and life is not greatly different from that on other farms in the district. Prisoners must attend to the farm work and strict lights-out and lock-up rules are in force, but the rooms are normally furnished, and nothing but their own word prevents the prisoners from climbing through the windows or fences and escaping. Only first offenders are sent to Singeshult, and then only after six months' first-class behaviour in an ordinary prison, followed by another period at an intermediate institution. By placing prisoners on their honour, the Swedish Prisons Department aims at teaching self-control and self-respect, without which no prisoner will be reformed. Again the statistics are striking. In 20 years Singeshult has had over 600 prisoners pass through, but only one has broken his parole or made an attempt to escape. The experiment began on a small scale with a 10acre farm, but its results have been so successful that the property has grown to 20 times its original size, and the* system has become a permanent feature of the Swedish attack on crime. In both England and Sweden, as well as in a number of other countries, the prison staffs are given special training so that they understand the system with which, they are working and. the aims wliich. it has in view, . J New Zealand Contrast By contrast with these countries the proud New Zealand boast. to lead the world in social legislation is seen to be far too sweeping. In this field we are hopelessly out-of-date. It is of little use to point to, or demand the reform of, particular evils in the system; the whole approach is at fault. The cold, grey, depressing prisons, their colourless vards and ceils, the notorious "dummy," where the cold concrete, which is both floor and thinly covered bed, create (according to one eye-witness) either "murderous maniacs or broken spirits —ah these are not merely specific points of criticism, but symptoms of an unscientific approach quite out ot keeping with the best modern knowledge. New Zealand's present system .is undifferentiated punishment, with little conscious aim beyond retribution. Perhaps the most glaring symptom of its folly is the permission of contact between novices in crime and hardened old criminals of vicious types, with results which can be readily imagined. _ Crime will be an increasing problem in the years immediately ahead. Obviously many of the criminals will be victims of the war and immediate post-war years. If'the anti-social maladjustments of these criminals are to be corrected it will be only by a system deliberately created and administered for reformatory purposes on lines which have proved successful elsewhere.