GAOL STRIKE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22403, 27 April 1936, Page 10

GAOL STRIKE

MT. EDEN INMATES ANZAC DAY TROUBLE ORDERS NOT OBEYED NO RETURN TO CELLS POLICE END DEADLOCK A " strike " of prisoners nt Mount Eden Gaol on Saturday morning necessitated the despatch of a force of constables from the Central and Newton police stations to reinforce a depleted prison staff. The trouble arose from the refusal of prisoners to shave because it was Anzac Day, to distribute clean clothes, or to return to their cells from tho exercise yard at the appointed time Officials in Auckland were reticent when questioned. " The thing is farcical and I am not disposed to comment upon it," said Mr. W. T. Leggett, superintendent of the prison, when interviewed at his home yesterday. Mr. Leggett said subsequently that it was purely a domestic matter, Avith which the public was not concerned. The officer in charge of the police in Auckland, Superintendent S. Till, said that the police had been requested by the prison authorities to send assistance. Refusal to Even Shave The Hkrald's special representative in Wellington thereupon communicated with tho Minister in Charge of the Prisons Department, Hon. H. G. R. Mason, prior to his departure for Auckland last night. The following statement was immediately made by tho Minister: — On the morning of Anzac Day some of the in Mount Eden Gaol made themselves a source of considerable trouble to the prison staff. It is usual on Saturdays for prisoners to shave, bath themselves, and change their clothes, the clothes being distributed by men assigned to the task. On Saturday some of the prisoners objected to having to shave on the grounds that it was Anzac Day and that as no work was being performed outside the prison nothing should be done inside it. They further refused to deliver any clean clothes to their fellow prisoners, and all the other prisoners joined in this " strike." Extra Exercise Demanded Not thinking fit to have the prisoners resume dirty clothes after their baths members of the prison staff distributed the clean clothing themselves. As it was Anzac Day there was only a reduced staff on duty, and the distribution took the greater part of an hour, as against the few minutes that would have been taken if the prisoners themselves nad distributed the clean clothes. There was a consequent delay in letting the prisoners out into their exercise yard, and they took advantage of their knowledge that there was only a reduced staff on duty by refusing to come in at tho ordinary time. They held that as they had been let out late they should have extra time for exercise. Arrival of Constables The men were warned of the very serious natuie of the offence they were committing, but still persisted in their refusal. The police were at once communicated with. The skeleton staff of warders was reinforced by a detachment of constables, and the prisoners were given the option of walking into their cells or of being put in forcibly. Thereupon they all went quietly to their cells.

An inquiry by the visiting magistrate will be held into the origin of the mutinous conduct of the prisoners concerned.

Mr. Mason added that under the present system of classification of prisoners, Mount Eden was the gaol in which all the worst offenders from the whole of New Zealand were confined.