PRISON CAMP HORRORS.

NZ Truth, Issue 84, 26 January 1907, Page 4

PRISON CAMP HORRORS.

From every place where the prison authorities have pitched their treeplanting stations . come horrible tales of the prevalence of the sin that 'Hhe Book" tells us was the cause of the rain of brimstone and cinders that wiped put tlie cities of Sodom and Gomorrah some' years back. -Not from one pair of lips, but from dozens , have these . dreadful stories eman-t ated, and as there is no' collusion or suspicion of it, between ■ the discharged prisoners , who brings their sickening stories to~ this' office, and as they oome from as far North' as Waipa and as- far South as Hanmer Springs tltere' . can be no doubting their truth.. Nor doe? the department doubt them. It' is well a-w-are. of the existence of this foul 'blot on the system, f but, fpr reasons of policy, instead 1 of prosecuting when an offence, or series of offences of this nature is impossible to. be overlooked. It simply transfers the offender or offenders back to one of the gads and does not always do even that; as is proved by the fact t'hiat a ruffiaai long-sentence man who was caught m the 'act' of committing sodomy on a boy /prisoner, at one of these .camps, has since been' promoted to the post of gardener. This brute's; sentence was imposed for an outrage on a little girl and his offence, if committed-, outside, would have, earned him from seven to ten years' imprisonment. Yet, so far from punishing the beast, the authorities rewarded him with an easy bilt&t with emoluments and privileges. The camps are ostensibly for first -offenders, but as a fact men doing as long "stretches" as -fifteen years are sent to them to spread pollution. Here is one specimen., of what company an ordinary offender may find himself m. At Wai-pa, m one hut, were billeted:: one man doing seven . years for rape, another five years for attempted sodomy, another five years for rape on a Maori cirl at Feilding, and a poor devil doing a term for forgery. When this latter protested at being forced into such contaminating company, and, to mark his protest, refund to turn out with them, he was kept on half rations for 26 days and then sent back to gaol without being punished for his recalcitrance, because the authorities feared to do so, dreading an inquiry and exposure of the existing state of affairs. Now that it has been brought under the notice of the Government by the publication of this article, surely a strict enquiry will be commanded. A Commission will not have far to seek for evidence of the truth of these apalling statements. . ■-. -