SEGREGATION OF CLASSES

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30940, 22 December 1965, Page 1

SEGREGATION OF CLASSES

(Kew Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, Dec. 21. The need for the adequate segregation of the different classes of prisoners in a prison such as Paparua is emphasised by the commissioner (Mr E. A. Lee, S.M.) in his report on the prison riot of July 25.

“I understand some extension of the prison is now planned, and I suggest that this recommendation be not lost sight of,” Mr Lee says.

In the report, Mr Lee mentions the comment of the senior psychologist at the prison (Mr H. E. Cohen) that the class of prison inmate is undergoing a change.

“Today there is present in the community a quite .substantial body of young men who. through lack of proper parental control and for other contributing causes, are antisocial. defiant of authority, aggressive and destructive, and completely irresponsible," the report says. “Many are intelligent but unstable. This view is supported by the type of young men appearing before the courts on charges of assaults on police and other law enforcement officers, gang rapes, and wanton destruction. “After graduating through the various forms of punishment for young offenders without any response, these

young men are reaching the prisons. In the words of Mr Cohen these men ... are emotionally disturbed, irresponsible, destructive young rebels.

"They differ from the average prisoner who will accept prison with its limitations and and restrictions and there are sufficient of them to cause trouble at any time. "Their conduct can involve men who would otherwise not offend, and can result in restrictions on the whole inmate body. This breeds resentment and leads to more tension among both inmates and prison officers. “It would appear very desirable that there should be at Paparua a section of the prison where the type of prisoner 1 have referred to could be securely shut away from other prisoners, or better still, that they be held in another institution. - “It could be that the present situation, where, through lack of suitable accommodation, these men are permitted to mix with other prisoners, even if it does not cause another outbreak, could retard the policy of the present administration, of creating a relaxed and co-opera-tive atmosphere directed towards the ultimate reformation of the prisoner" says the report.