TREATMENT OF PRISONERS

Maoriland Worker, Volume 10, Issue 448, 8 October 1919, Page 2

TREATMENT OF PRISONERS

Ex-Prisoner's Indictment

CALLOUSNESS, CRUELTY AND INHUMANITY

Mr. Alexander May. of Dunedin, late au inmate of Mt. X ien Prison, writes as follows:— Kindly allow mc sj ice in your paper to try and awaken i he publio to the immediate need of a publio inquiry mot th© prison &d:umistration. The 'Rev. J. K. Archer i_ Christchurch described Napier jail as a ''Criminal'manufacturing association." The same remark so far as my knowledge goes could be applied, to the whol© system in New Zealand. Thr- cries of the co-t' vict against inhumi.n treatment are not heard beyond prison walls. The vain protests of t h _ prisoners die in their cells, because the jail officials know that the. y are safa no matlier what brutalities they in'X't on their victims. The when released endeavours to hide his wrongs, and by so doing hides the officer's guiit. It is extremely gratifying, even nt, i his late period of time to know th«u ..'ii.. parson in New Zealand has the courage to gn> expression to his convictions rather than remain silent ai.tl thereby fortify the wrongs that are perpetrated on - our social outcasts that rind their way into our jails. 1. l»ave wo vocabulary at my commaud to express properly what OUI ' jails are. 1 can only call them "Living Human Hells" where all that is vile and brutal reigns and flourishes. Noble manhood is crushed by th c fear of pnr> ishmenfc and the prisoners become iiko t-'Heir jailers—fiypecrXes. The freat mass of tlie people have no idea what crimes are eoirimitted behind our pri-on. wall, or I imi sure they would not tolerate the system now in operation. Ther,_ is no real endeavour made either to classify or reform the prisoners. Legal reform we may have, moral reform uone; hardly ,-ver a kind word spoken t» the prison-era from one yeai '. end to th*. other. N. attempt ia mad* to ennoble, to eievut. and purify the ■-tvetr-©.- o«r evimic-ijs.s. Eye-Vtbijg/ ldone (1 don't Jay Yd"!beratejy) that cai I be done to irritare, 'to degrade and brutali.e the ti;.L,:tunale <'reatures 'Much of ihe i>n-j-j_j ia!j-or i>. ol bru'-alising sou!-destroying nature, and the warders, many oi them are (to put it- mildly) dehumanised monsters, who«e sole ambition in life is to have an easy job with no idea of the responsible position-: they occupy. In fact our pf'ison sy-teln'- is so brutal that men, endowed with bigiiier attributes of humanity are unable to remain in the service. Th, Inspector <>t' Prisons when he appeared before lh e mili't.try appeal board asking for exemption for prison warders ifaid, "It is extremely hard to get,' suitable men" and anyone with or© drop of thie oil of human sympathy in their composition can easily understand why. The work is too repulsive and bfutalising for a man with humanitarian sentimei-ts, with the result that the noblest and best have to leave the service, while the uncultured obsequious sycophant remains behind to do the dirty work. The lurid language of some of the officers is enough to corrupt the incorruptible. Bef.ro the hieads of the prison department talk about reforming .riminuls, it is first of au -fcftcessary tor them to reform the men that look alter the criminals, i have prisoners' bodies black and blue from the effects of kjc6«s meted out to them by warders «Jth they hud th e unfortunate creature's in the "dummy." The "dummy '■' is a relic of the dark ages which 1 will explain more fully in another article. There a_ no real reforming power in fear or pu_«3hnient, and the Governors of jails and their subordinates, also the ruler- if society must learn that cruelty, tyranny and brute force do not and cannot better 'the Hearts of men. The jail food is unpalatable, ir.suffi-> cienf and.lacking in quality lor healthy m.?ii. Tlie merit- ration I have found to be putrid, and during the whole of my term of imprisonment the potatoes were unfit for human consumption. Many of our social outcasts are mental-' ly deficient and require all the nourishing they can get to help to b__d up a stronger mentality. Energy is wasted in our jails, by compelling prisoners to do unreraunerativo work, and by doing work upside down, simply because dome oi,. ih airthority has told the subordinate to do it, itmust be done no matter how-prepost-erous. It is pimply a question of bowing down, to blind authority.' The waste of cementb', etc., in our jculs is something appalling, and the fawning propensities of the officers when the Deputy Inspector visits the

1 jails makes almost think there is b no ho-pe io? humonity. . The waste in our jails on useless work 1 and material would he sufficient to give . four times the amount of prisoners we r now have th e best of food and then 1 snow am enormous snrplus. The Wai- . Marino prison road if ever completed i will be the most, expensive road ever I mad e iv any part of I,li_ world, dimply i because the ifien in Xiai-.p- i!- 1 u'-i, v iui« rl stand the work. Tim iL-fiut.i I o-p'-.'-t-'r" ' !-• :i. terror tor iwnk, to.it. it he wanK . b> ULik-' our jXX ,-,.'.;, lit- iiiu---i yei :-oiri-:----f otiw ivhn ini<i:'t':[;a:'ts vuii. t« ma tILJ' • 1 the di!'br.-ri! j," X...; ;■- 1 ■.-.•■;■..1. t if' li-;- --; VHLV? thai. n,|.|i .\.-i--. cr.p].,..-,,','t li r . I vet'lcs :.', Wl i;i:» prX'-r <-annp ''■•L.'i- -. I n.?' iii - c,i:,d -.iiili, --I. I 111 v,;l i-arr-X '■''■ : n i- X, ml (.1:.. o-.e!..,i l,'--.|.:-V L wa-". ; ' IHRMi:,'.!, Km.1;;,,;. X' ' "-..'Hi! '.'.!■,. :-.,, i.-,,!i-!) -,--:iiv \i< (his -X.:.;-.!• ■■> i vp,L O methods of work, so XX i.pi come back to t_te speaker at the ; '.iiiijl -il of ('hii relies mcc Li ii;. v. -i" \'i>- ■ .XXiiv<.iirvil i:, ..upprL ; the ioutioii -it LJease il should condemn the Justice I>pl! partment. The Justice Deportment is >' all powerful and can quite easily look I' after its own affairs, but the time has . arrived when thb secrecy of our prison it administration must be brought ;out : I from the twilight of night into the ■ j noon-day of light. J believe,with Kichijard Carlyle, that secrecy is a. vir c and -i requires uprooting. Talking alx>ut justice puis mc in mind !ef I ii. Greek philosopher Cato, who ' said, "How can- you have justice, when \yoti put privat© robbers into iprison while public robbers are seen in purple ttnd gold?" Governments have commit--1 Xfd far more crimes than they have ' prevented, and the William Ferguson !L'vlassey combination Government have 1 Xianufactured criminals by the hiun>-cy-ed eince the European conflagration .'■'fcurst over. the world with, volcanio b'jiry. And all the lessons of the re- | corded history of the past do not seem to have taught thfem anything, ,vhen we have men like Sir James Allen s paying the C.O.s must remain in jail s |b,s a deterrent to prevent others from ■.breaking the laws of the country.. In . ail ages men hiave been noble enough to 5 , light a nd die for their convictions. r In. spite of the punishment and death 5 «*i>tence s meted out to Irish, martyrs - in the past, it did not prevent the - JSaster Week Rebellion. Neither will - thp punishment meted out to C.O.s and 3 others prevent them from trampling i jihder foot laws made by the hoaTy dead, when such lawg stand in opposit tion to human progress. !XI bav e seen soldiers who have come r back from the bloody brain-bespatter-r ed fields of Flanders after fighting for b King and Country treated on a par . with pigs. Many of those lads on acj cduiit of shell shock have lost their r normal equilibrium, arvd have deviated - from the paths of rectitude by comf in it ting some petty offence and are flung r into prison. No one would object to - that", but the ordinary jail food is not i suitable for sick men, and unless one 3 is a grovelling earth worm there is . little hope of getting .special diet. The > food consists mainly of black tea, bread and porridge, no milk or butter, but fcr. allowance of 2A grade sugar per day r which is little better than none. Any j Lit that may be on the frozen meat • l, stripped off iv order to make soap, . --o that there is no fat in the food to » nourish] the body. I psk you, reader, is that proper food for men suffering from , tl«e hardships of battle? Prisoners . v hen sick get no treatment, with the ♦<-ception of medicine, as the officers, doctor. and jailer are obsessed with the - mating.-itis germ, whioh seems to over4iadoV all humane feelings for their - „r*fo-_unate fellow mortals, iv spite I "Xttie- ia.t that they earn their bread, ; .aid «.4ucnte their children at the ex- > -_n&e and* witTering. the, blooj and s i i-eaid ''* th*ir fellow mortals. . . b" again* from, experience al'|__o__., I <«i..'.t, f.f*t,'_^_-,own raw*'beI lor« your i*adf r« at -hi. junetur-f pfi. l " I lice it to p.iv my health is broken but b, h tv- .pi.H One i.i-in ' j-.'w in 1 .ML Ed'tn died. Ms death l-eiug ,: thiough, lack of treatment. This man - was sent from T-iota-Aira prison camp to " Mt. Fiden jail for medical treatment, ) liecauise be was sick and unable to ■ work . He arrived on the lStli January, , 1919, aud sis days elapsed before he saw : tho jail doctor, in spite of the fact that 'he was suffering from dyspepsia, i pyrroliea, and heart trouble, t=o the . doctor said at tlie inquest ou the uni fortunate creatures death. I was .jld i by the jailer that, I must not k*.-p v » diary. 1 wonder why? Without the diary i 1 can vouch for what I say and more i when the proper time ai-rives. Some- . one hag said that two pests of a ctmi munity are: A priest without chanty, » a doctor without knowledge, and I i-_y • add jail warders without a _e.ts_ of i justice or hunian sympathy. As this seems to be a time cf IX \X. ; Commissions, I hope the humane ar. ,Ik > in society will assist "s to get one > set up to inquire into the abominable ' and brutal treatment ot our prisoners " and help us to get a proper system ; cf claudication, apart from the brown, • grey and blue coats our prisoners wear, ' which i. t-_ only reform at present. ■ Men called -reformative prisoners y wear ■ the blue o»at~, but what virtu, the > colour possi-ses ,by way of Teform I ■> am unable, to ascertain.