MALE DETENTION CENTRES

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27502, 9 November 1954, Page 10

MALE DETENTION CENTRES

New Plymouth Prison To Be Converted

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT’S PLANS ”Th« Prsss” Spseial Sanrtce WELLINGTON, November 8. Early next year the New Plymouth prison will be converted to. a detention centre for males between the age of 17 and 22, where for three or four months theyiwill be subjected to hard work and strict discipline. Short sentences with extreme discipline and a good deal of physical exercise will be the keynote of this new method of prison reform which will be patterned on a system already in operation in England. .. Th* Justice Department proposes that detention at Ntw Plymouth will be the alternative to a term in Borstal. When it is considered that a young man requires a sharp shake-up he wil be sent to New Pljnnouth. Offenders will, however, be sent to New Plymouth only If it is felt they would be responsive. The work inmates will be called on to do will be solid, but productive, and instructive to a certain degree. There will be no waste of labour. Applications are being called tor the position of superintendent, and a guide to the type of institution New Plymouth prison will become is contained in the notice calling applications for the position. “The regime will be One of hard work and strict discipline,” says the notice.

When transformed into a detention centre the New Plymouth prison will have a capacity of about 65 inmates, but the normal number of inmates is expected to be about 45.