DEALING WITH OFFENDERS

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21866, 20 August 1936, Page 4

DEALING WITH OFFENDERS

“SHORT* SHARP LESSON” OF LITTLE USE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN PRISONS DEPARTMENT REPORT The principle of a “short, sharp lesson’’ to criminal offenders is dismissed as fallacious in the annual report of the Controller-General of Prisons, Mr B. L. Dallard. The repor* states that prison conditions have in recent years been so ameliorated that the experience of a short sentence surely serves to accustom a man to gaol conditions, and diminishes what should be a wholesome dread of penal institutions. A recent statement by the Lord Chief justice of England, Lord Hewart, is quoted: “Imprisonment is in the last resort necessary, of course, for cases that really call for serious punishment; and in inose cases a substantial term may do some good. A short sentence hardly ever does any good.” “It is generally accepted to-day. that harsh punitive measures too often failed in their purpose because of their severity,” the,report states in a passage dealing with punishments . and infractions of discipline. “They engendered resentment am* hostility to authority. Without discipline it is obvious that there would be disorder; but it should be maintained in a human and constructive manner. “Each prisoner must be treated and understood individually. Some suffer from delusions of persecution, and often view with suspicion and. distrust those who are really out to help them. Some adopt a truculent attitude, Which in some cases m.y be a nervous reaction and in others a misguided manifestation of character. Others indulge in self-pity and attempt to rationalise their conduct, ’./hey develop excuse theories and often feel more sinned against than sinning. But all require careful handling and call for the exercise or tact and understanding on the part of the staff to secure an adjustment to prison conditions and the maintenance of a proper standard of discipline. • “A prisoner must be made to realise that he must first discipline himself by learning to adapt himself to the institutions regimen before he Ckn hope to conform to the move exacting standards of civil life. It is fundamental ti.at he should realise that an offence against society involves deprivation of liberty and the denial of certain privileges that law-abiding men enjoy.”