Evening Post. MONDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1900. THE CONDITION OF WELLINGTON GAOL.

Evening Post, Volume LX, Issue 103, 29 October 1900, Page 4

Evening Post. MONDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1900.

THE CONDITION OF WELLINGTON GAOL.

The attempt made on Thursday night by three long-sentence prisoners to break out of the Terrace Gaol was fortunately frustrated by the alertness of the ppison officers, but the incident should serve to convince the Government that it is., high time to provide better gaol accommodation for this district. The three prisoners in question were, it appears, lodged in one cell, and the fact that such a course was necessary is of itself proof of the inadequacy of the accommodation at the Terrace Gaol. A modern prison with any pretensions to completeness should afford separate cellular accommodation for at least long-sentence prisoners of the type to which the three men who appeared before the Magistrate's Court on Saturday evidently belong. It has- been well known for years that the Terracd Gaol is not only insufficient, but, in its present condition, unsuitable for the requirements of the district. The Government must be well aware of this, since it has been emphatically stated over and over again in the Departmental reports. The Mount Cook Prison was intended to relifeve the Terrace Gaol, and the Prisons Branch of the Department of Justice trusted to find in it the necessary accommodation. The people of Wellington, however, were resolved that the site should not be devoted to a prison, and the Premier promised to respect their wishes in this matter. Certain Maori prisoners were confined, in the Mount Cook Prison in 1898, but the building has not since then been used for gaol purposes, and as the Government has apparently taken no steps to procure proper accommodation elsewhere, $he crowded condition of the Terrace Gaol is now well-nigh a scandal. To show how well the Government ought to be conversant with the state of affairs it is only necessary to turn; to the last two or three annual reports of the Inspector of Prisons. In 1898 Colonel Hume wrote as follows:—"One wing of the 'Mount Cook Prison has been completed and occupied. This prison is very much required, the Terrace buildings being obsolete, and proper classification is out of the question in such buildings. The only way to make imprisooiment deterrent and reformatory is by separation, and any prison that cannot provide a separate cell for each prisoner detained therein is out .of date." 4gaia, the following year we 1 read: — "As regards new prisons, the locality that requires most attention is Wellington ; the Terrace Prison is out of date, and, as pointed out in previous reports, is fast becoming unserviceable, ana some years ago it was decided to move . the prison from the present locality to Mount Cook, which had been selected as a prison reserve some time in the forties. A building was in due course erected, and is now fit for occupation, and, in • fact, was occupied by Maori prisoners last year. A movement is now being made to obtain that building and site for educational purposes, without perhaps giving a fair amount of consideration to the question of properly housing and classifying the prisoners in • Wellington. It is admitted by all versed in the matter that the only system which has the least chance of mak-,, ing imprisonment deterrent must include separate treatment, not only of first offenders, but throughout the various grades. The classification of prisoner's should not %e confined to merely keeping first-sentenced prisoners from contact with hardened criminals, but extended to all classes with the greatest care and judgment. There can be no proper classification in the buildings now occupied by the Terrace prisoners, and some final decision should be arrived at as to where the Wellington prison is to be." Col. Hume, it will be noticed, is so convinced of the need of further prison accommodation than that afforded by the Terrace Gaol that, he writes quite resent-fully-of the agitation which prevented the Mount Cook site from being used for a prison. That agitation, however, showed the instinctive appreciation of our people for the fitness of things, and it has been so far successful that the Terrace Gaol •prisoners are npw being employed to convert the Mount Cook buildings into something other than a gaol, at, present the Premier's intention being, we understand, barracks, which are only second in objectionableness to a prison ; but ultimately, we trust, the site wilL be granted to our University College, and we mayi perhaps, consider the barracks a half-way house- to the College. The point of Colonel Humo's remarks, however, lies in the need of further gaol accommodation, and not in the us© of the Mount Cook site. In his report for the current year he returns once more to the charge. "As regards, new prisons, as was stated last year, . Wellington," he -says, "is the ■locality- that requires^ most attention. It was pointed out many yfiars ago that the Terrace Prison was out of date, and, though it has been considerably improved as far as. sanitary arrangements go, \t can never be converted into an up-to-date prison, but rather should be entirely pulled down and rebuilt on some definite pan, according to present day notions, if it is decided to retain a prison op thai ! site. There can be no proper classification, of prisoners in these buildings asthey now stand, and,, as a prison must be located in Wellington, it seems high time some final decision was como to on this I important question." The above quotaI tions indicate how l necessary a new prison I j has become, and it is surprising that the ! Government tiook no -steps to provide one as soon as tie, Premier realised that Mount Cook cpuld not be devoted to j that purpose. A new Wellington Gaol must be ' regarded as one of the urgent works the should be called upon to carry out, and we would suggest that an experiment might well be made in the direction of a State farm, where the prisoners might be employed in useful, profitable, and educative labour.