THE WAIOTAPU PRISON CAMP.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LIII, Issue LIII, 25 May 1908, Page 4

THE WAIOTAPU PRISON CAMP.

Last week's escape and recapture of another prisoner engaged at the Waiotapu prison camp should bring into review the method of selection of prisoners for camp life. All who take an interest in criminology will agree that invigorating open air work is best calculated to prevent the brutalisation of the men, but according to some statements that have been made men have been sent to Waiotapu who should never have been permitted to leave the prison walls. It is not quite clear what the policy of the Department is, but it seems like taking an unnecessary risk to send long-sentence criminals to camp. The man Smith, by shooting at an arresting constable (for which he is serving his present sentence), had proved himself to be too dangerous to be given any latitude. During the past three years there have been nine escapes from the tree-planting camps. Most of the escapees have been recaptured within a few days, but one man, Usher, was never caught. The number of escapes suggests that the subjects for outdoor work have not been as "carefully selected as some of the officials affirm. Indeed, Mr Roberts, the officer in charge, is reported to have stated to a New Zealand Herald representative that nearly all the prisoners who broke camp* were of a class, not really eligible fpr the camp system. It was pointed out that the system under which these planting camps is run is not framed to deal with desperate characters, and the officials responsible for sending the wrong class of men do much harm to the whole idea of reform. As to the conditions at Waiotapu the Herald goes on to explain that in many instances there is only one warder in charge of 10 to 15 men out on a wild hillside. The prisoners are armed with spades, slashers, and mattocks, while the warder is totally unarmed. Owing to the insufficiency of warders no night watch is kept over the prisoners. They are lpcked in their huts at 7.30 p.m., and left unguarded until six o'clock next morning. The huts are by no means prison cells, and could be easily broken. Thus the prisoners might leave the huts during the night, and return without being seen. -Stveeney, one of the leaders in the Mount Eden gaol riots, was sent to Waiotapu shortly afterwards, and his case illustrates the necessity of a night guard. * He simply opened the window of his hut, climbed out during the night, broke into the Waiotapu Hotel, was fired at, fled back to the camp, and re-entered his hut by the window, without being observed. Smith, who jumped from the Rotorua express on Friday, was being returned to Mount Eden gaol at the request of the officer in charge, Mr Roberts, who did.. not consider it advisable to' attempt to keep him in the camp. Men tinder sentence for , murder, for burglary and other serious offences have been sent to tapu, and it seems as if some of the, gaols , have used the place as a means of ( getting rid of some of^their. worst offenders. The. rules at Waiotapu are framed on the supposition that the men prefer %c camp, to gaol, and that for the.ir good behaviour they obtain better food, healthier labor, 'arid ! considerable remission of their sentences. These elements .seem, to contain the principle -of reform, for in- a measure' they call upon the. men to ; work .out their own salvation. But if it be found by experience that a large number of prisoners cannot be safely employed in camps along the lines followed at Waiotapu, such severe restrictions may be found necessary as to seriously interfere with the reform experiments. From all points of view it is desirable that prisoners should be given every opportunity for improvement, but public safety demands' protection against desperate characters breaking loose,