PRISON INTERVIEWS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 17 November 1943, Page 6

PRISON INTERVIEWS

EX-MINISTER'S ACTION SIR H. OSTLER'S COMMENT (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Tuesday. In a statement to-day Sir Hubert Ostler commented on remarks made by Dr. D. G. McMillan, former Minister in charge of Prisons, in reply to Sir Hubert's statement regarding New Zealand's prison system.

"It was not my intention to enter into a personal controversy with Dr. I McMillan, but only in the public interest to state the facts," Sir Hubert said. "Dr. McMillan complains of the charge I made that his administration was responsible for the Auckland trouble, and he is at pains to explain that this brutal assault was the result of non-observ-ance of prison rules. In excusing himself in Parliament he made a similar statement alleging that 'the incident would not have happened if warders had followed the routine.' When chairman of the Prisons Board I had access to the files and I am able to state positively that the files reveal nothing that would suggest that there had been any failure on the part of the warders in the observance of the prescribed routine. The files do reveal, however, that there was 'a state of unrest' in the prison which was attributed by the controlling officers to the undermining of discipline through the actions of the Minister. Dr. McMillan went to various prisons accompanied only by a stenographer and interviewed prisoners in private. What took place at these interviews is not known, but it is known that immediately afterward many of the prisoners became insubordinate. I do not suggest that Dr. McMillan intended to cause any such trouble by his actions, but he ought to have had enough good sense to know that this method of trying to arrive at the truth was mischievous and dangerous.

"It will be noted that Dr. McMillan has somewhat, shifted his ground. His main statement made at Dunedin was that our Borstal institutions were purely institutions for the manufacture of criminals. When met with the statistics showing that SO per cent of the inmates never come back'he remains silent. He now admits that psychiatrists are used, but says they are not used sufficiently. That statement shows ignorance of the true position on his part. He has probably never perused the Prisons Board file. If he had he would have known that in every case where there was the slightest suggestion of impaired mentality, or where specialist guidance in the matter of treatment might be helpful, the services of psychiatrists are procured from the fine staff of alienists in the mental hospitals department."