PRISON METHODS

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 170, 14 April 1932, Page 6

PRISON METHODS

Trenchant Criticism by Howard League ANNUAL CONFERENCE Opinions as to the reformatory side of tbo New Zealand prisons system, showing a marked divergence from the official view, were expressed at the annual conference of the Howard League for Penal Reform which began yesterday. Those present were: Mr. R. At. Laing (Christchurch), chairman of the league’s Dominion executive, who presided; Mr. C. R. N. Mackie (Christhonorary secretary; Miss B. E. Baughan (Christchurch), Mrs. E. Maslen (Wellington), Miss C. E. Gifford (Oamaru), and Mr. F. A. de la Mare (Hamilton). Introducing the Minister of Justice, Hon. J. G. Cobbe, who declared the conference open, Mr. Laing said the league was trying to secure the sym- ■ pat.by of criminals and to understand them. It was working on a practical basis, and Its remits and resolutions .would be of a practical nature.

I Stating that he realised the league was actuated by the very best of motives. Mr. Cobbe outlined some of the problems associated with the modern criminal Problem of Rehabilitation.

The problem of rehabilitation of discharged prisoners was being made much more difficult by the prevailing depression, said the Minister. Work was the enemy of crime, but if a man had no work to go to the chances were that he would again turn to his former life. Despite this danger, the percentage of those w'ho relapsed was small, and without doubt this was due largely to the work of the various organisations established throughout the country for the purpose of helping men after their release from prison. He considered that the prison conditions In New Zealand prevailing during the last few years gave cause for satisfaction. He had been favourably impressed by the training given on the prison farms, while the borstal institutions were doing excellent work, this being reflected in the small percentage of ex-borstal Inmates who returned to criminal ways. Unfortunately in the last IS months there had been a smallincrease in the numbers committed to prison in New Zealand, but over the past six years a decline was shown, while the number committed in 1929 was 50 per cent, lower for each 10,000 of the population than 25 years ago. In declaring the conference open, the Minister said that although the tendency in prison administration to-day was toward reform rather than punishment, a policy of gradual progressiveness was the common-sense one. He asked the delegates present to approach their deliberations with the realisation that, in a field such as theirs, the greatest caution had to be maintained in instituting changes. A vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Cobbe for his attendance, and after his departure Mr. Laing addressed the conference, reviewing the prison, borstal, and probation systems as they appeared In the light of the league’s Investigations. A Different Position. The figures in his possession, he said, showed a position different from that indicated by the Minister of Justice. lu 1921 the number received into gaol under sentcuce was 16.61 for each .10,000 of the population, compared with 19.19 in 1930—an increase over the period of 10 years. During that time the daily average of persons in New Zealand prisons had increased by more than 50 per cent, without anything like such an increase in tbq country’s population. Miss Baughan, drawing attention to what the Minister had said regarding the present finqueial difficulties, stated that the cost of prison maintenance had risen from £BB,OOO in 1921 to £136.000 in 1931. This was a strong argument in favour of an extension of the probation system. Public opinion in prisons was not against crime and prisoners learned how to do their crimes better. Notwithstanding this and the cost of prisons, the number admitted to probation in 1930 was only 650, whereas the number in 1925 was 658.

Air. de la Alare dealt at length with the conditions within prison walls. He said he know of a case in which a boy imprisoned in Alount Eden gaol, Auckland. for failure to attend drill, had been set to work in a quarry alongside •habitual criminals. It. was very difficult, he contended, to find out the true conditions in New Zealand prisons. Anyone who went to Alount Eden or any other prison saw a place that was clean and prepared for the visitor’s inspection. Mr. Cobbe had referred to the prison farms and the milking done by the prisoners, but he knew of boys who, after two or three years at one of these farms, were unable to milk and, in consequence, were unqualified for the only jobs open to them. He had inquired as to the reason for this and had been told by the authorities that the work could not be given lu rotation as the butterfat yield dropped unless experts were kept constantly at the work. He had asked the authorities whether the prison farms were.established for the boy or for the cow. “Reformed or Abolished.” Mr. de la Mare moved that, in the opinion of the conference, it would be in the interests of justice if the Prisons Board were either reformed or abolisiied. He said that in his opinion the board was believed by every prisoner to be an instrument of injustice. Supporting the motion, Miss Baughan said the public did not realise that, the board was simply a parole board and not one dealing with prisons administration. The motion was passed.

As the outcome of a remit from the Christchurch branch it was resolved to urge that the Justices of the Peace Act. 1 1927, be amended to provide for legal aid to accused persons of insufficient means in non-indictable cases. Aliss Baughan said that whenever an accused person had the requisite means, legal aid invariably was obtained. There should not be one law for the rich and another for the poor. In such cases as receiving stolen property a plea of guilty was sometimes entered under a complete misapprehension of tlie law.

On tlie motion of Aliss Baughan if was decided to urge that, in the interests of public morality, women police should be appointed in New Zealand.

PUBLIC MEETING TO-NIGHT A public meeting in connection with the New Zealand Howard League for Penal Reform will be held this evening in the Dominion Farmers’ Institute building, at S o’clock. Addresses will be given by Aliss B. E. Baughan and Messrs. R. Al. Laing and C. R. N. Mackie on the subjects of “Probation.” “Justice in Russia ; and Elsewhere,” and “Cavital Punish- j meat.”