PRISON REFORM.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXI, Issue 15256, 17 March 1910, Page 6

PRISON REFORM.

The Hon Dr Findlay is removing from this country the reproach that in its prison methods it has lagged behind some of the older lands. Since ho assumed control of the Department of Justice he has initiated a 6eries of reforms dealing both with matters of general policy and with details of administration, and his work is certain to bear good fruit in the years to come. Tho day has passed when, in educated and civilised communities, imprisonment was regarded simply as a punishment for tho violation of the laws. Thoughtful people have come to realise that a large proportion of the men and women who pass before the courts in connection with various offences can bo reformed if proper methods aro employed, and that tho State is considering neither tho welfare of tho criminal nor its own interests by inflicting punishment without attempting to uplift tho offender. IVJodern " prison treatment," therefore, consists in the application to' xho gaols of reformatory methods. Dr Findlay has mado a careful study of the subject, and he is bringing to bear on the prisoners of New Zealand the system developed from the experience of other countries. Tho scheme of reform which he explained to an interviewer yesterday cannot fail to have a most salutary effect. He proposes to extend tho operation of the indeterminate sentence, which . has already been attended by good results, and to arrange an elaborate system of classification. Prisoners will be given an opportunity to earn small sums of money and to learn useful trades and employments. The cost of tho prisons to the State will be reduced, because the prisoners will become producers, but this is not a factor of the first importance. Tho need of the country is the best prison system that can be devised, and tho Ministor of Justice is placing the publio , under a debt of gratitude by the efforts he is making in that direction.