THE PRISONS REPORT.

Press, Volume XLVI, Issue 7382, 7 August 1889, Page 5

THE PRISONS REPORT.

JUVENILE CRIME. I DRUNKARDS AND PROBATION. j [By Tbleqraph.] [from our special correspondent.] WELLINGTON, August 6. The report of the Inspector of Prisons, laid on the table to-day, is a Tory satisfactory document. Colonel Hume says tho present system as now established is better j and milder than the prisoners deserve, and j ! reports about its barbarity and harshness , i are untrue. The system of fcspection j now in vogue entirely explodesjalf fabri- I cated tales of cruelties and wrongs in- I flicted on prisoners. The large increase iv the averago of sick is due to urunkards and old and infirm people seat to gaol as vagrants instead of to refuges. This, he says, is a serious blot on out administration, and gross injustice to unfortunate aged people too old and infirm to earn their bread. The gross cost of prisoners per head was £44, as against £49 the previous year; and _833 net, as against £$S in ISSJ7. The receipts from prison labor for the past year amounted to _311,567, as against __ 13,037 in ISB7. There has been a slight decrease in the number of children under ten years confined in gaols, though it is a matter of regret there are still twenty-two of that age serving sentences in the prisons. It was a source of gratification to him that the Justices were now turning their attention to juvenile crime. How it has remained so long in abeyance is a mystery beyond conception. It is earnestly hoped this important subject would receive the serious consideration it deserved. The introduction of tbe separate cell system has effected great economy and reform in Christchurch, and has led to the proposed closing of Addington Gaol. It is regretted that this system cannot yet be applied in Auckland, Wellington or Dunedin, and it is of the utmost consequence that the prisons now building at Auckland and Wellington should be quickly completed and a new prison at once erected at Dunedin. Colonel Hume concludes his report by protesting in the strongest terms against the present system of dealing with drunkards, which he says is a" sham and delusion, and an expensive and useless cruelty. They should receive proper medical treatment and not be treated like housebreakers or forgers. He also refers again to juvenile crime and says the remedy is to send the children to an Industrit I School at the cost of the parents, criminal children being sent to proper reformatories. The First Offenders' Probation Act, he reports, is working more satisfactorily than its most ardent supporters could possibly nave anticipated. Of 82 offenders created under the Act, 40 fulfilled the conditions, 40 are still working out their obligations. 1 absconded, and 1 was rearrested. Since the Act came into force 203 persons had been treated, 10 had been re-arrested, and only 1 escaped. The saving to the colony by the system for the year is £2808. The Act had hindered 11 young persons between ten and fifteen years from becoming inmates of prisons, and 42 under the age of twenty from being stamped as gaolbirds for the rest of their lives.