THE LYTTELTON INFERNO.

NZ Truth, Issue 107, 6 July 1907, Page 6

THE LYTTELTON INFERNO.

f MORE APUI? CiEAKKS CARAVANSERAI;

Thee Home of the Doomed and the Daunted.

Callously Cruel and Dually Inhuman Warders.

A Matter for i ran iediate Investigation.

■Iffi a' spanning article printed i?V "Truth"'- recently regarding the con" duct of the Lyttelton Gaol, allusio# was made to the inhumane way siclf prisoners .were treated m that cold* comfortless and callously-run ins-tity" tionv Of course, the gentleman knov.^ as "Lionel Terry — terrible lion— tv* that time was the sole occupier of t^ c nioelyi situated and most excellent/|£ equipped gaol hospital, which -m®been temporarily set apart for ffes: s sole use and benefit by a rafcjbalr; brained Department, which didayf ■ v know exactly where it , wer c"Truth's" exposure of the scandft* saw, an immediate alteration, a» a prisoners who are so- unfortunate a^ to come under the eye of greybcarj 1 Cleary are now comfortably houser* and have a better chance of receive!" ing; their health. The best of eyer^T thing m the way of sick-room delict ~ cies is provided m the hospital ;i bu J m Terry's time, when the crook-feel" ing wearers of the broad arrow occi ~ pied cold, damp cells, they didn't re " ceivc so much attention'- Nor,, c j course, did they have a fire, and ccl 1 life m cold weather must foe awfu 1 to *a sick man. There is a fire dar and night m the hospital. \ One of the sick prisoners (AlexaiF Her) , to whom allusjion was made iV} the first article, is now out of thaf* disreputable establishment, and feel* all the tetter for the fresh air of. lit; \ erty. Alexander had to put m si £ months, and dxrcing jthe whole of th-a time he only did . a day and - a half 3 ■ work with the gang. Th©n he was al ~ liged to desist. This will indicate how ill he was ; yet, although! he we m a pitiful, helpless condition, lie wa 3 / PERSECUTED BY SOME OF. THI ?J * WARDERS, ( ' who took a dislike tb.liiin . f ; rom ifciw* day that he entered -the place. It ha 3 been explained before that thes bumptious, blue-coated: bosses iiav^ their likes and dislikes, and the] ' r continually threaten to do something > tp the latter whether they have dowj anything out of the way or not. The^ want to show, their blasted authority the bounders, and impress first of- " fenders witli a sense of their vast ufof portancc; Well, they should leave si&ij' people alone, anyway_;. to 'bluster at** tyrannise over them is notliing shorjp of brutality. Yet this writer is soF" emnly assured, that they do that a# '* worse.- Well, reverting to the case Alex-a-nder, he occupied cell No. i*». and Wander Braddle had first cut Mm. Braddle, it may lie rememberif^ by readers of our first article, is o^ c of the bes-t hated men m the prisons' s he is severity personified, and is **&?' er seen to smile. His elders laugh/ ; I }' him, thQugh', because he; is an upstf -f; 0 and 'Oiil|r got his px-esen-t junior f * v . , becaiise; he went to Safrica with f J e \sf- tn'e^iiih,'argents of farm-bu/' s Ai I and fe)^ rs : " -Br aljf cue" -arccuswi ■ 'ATiekairijter oT^ldckinc; up a row one | m-or-miKP anfi- awakins a convict asi the cell' next him. He denied this, j the truth 'being that the man on the other side had asked him more than once if, he had any of his bread left, as he was hungry. It appears that bread is served to prisoners every evening .- 'Alexander says he never answered, and pretended to be asleep. Next morning- Braddle ordered- a prisoner, to. take Alexander's blankets and place them m i>he cell." . This compartment is known to prisoners by the moniker of SUNDER THE STAIRS. "' It is a place of punishnienit, and the comfinee m this oasef was kept from 9.30 a.m. that day -until 10.30 a.m. the next.. He asked Warder Parker w-ha^fc on> earth toe was being treated thus for, . and was •toisl that "he must behave himself." For three days he was kept m that plabe of detention, a/ad< asked to be takea before Gaoler Cleary: This was promised, but as th© man who had yelled out rbo his fellow prisoner for biead volunteered that it was he who bad made the disturbance, Alexander wasn't takea before old whiskers, the warders oonr cerned being afraid of being .carpeted. After the first day of Alexander's confinement m the separate show, he was taken out for cfie hour's exercise by ibooby .Braddle, who at once, warned him that $he caught irim tadkjjng to any of tie other prisoners who were on exercise, he . would shove him back m ihe cell dammed quick., An almost upiheard of atrocity was perpetrated by Warder Parker on that and other even;ags. He ordered the prisoner to strfp off his. clothes, and his boots and^ocks, and walk out on to the coldiconcretb just as nature made him ;i ill the things' wer{* set aside, and he uas then told that he could turn m. |He was returned his clothes each morning at about ?j quarter to seven. Now, what kind p| ruffianly conduct feij«tr'^Ciißr' ! &nt'trf&” WJiat occasion was tfeerc for it ? Isji part of the punishment of the jugit • It seems a. shocking aad most repif- ( hensible thing to do m the case jf men of weak and shaky pHysi.que, ml little wonder many previou.«4v healtof men come out of that damnaible Lyj- ' telton inferno completely btoken w ] through the pernicious practices jf ; unscrupulous warders who act., <o ; their own when beyond the eye oi • Chief Warder Nicholson— a most knd-ly-hearted officer. It was this sian; \ dalous disrobing treatment that fts 1 ; j started to knock Alexander out. A«l---ed to that must be mentioned sonc- J thing else, andytiiat something elseis i far more important. .There was U- l .ways a " . i ■\ MOST INTOLERABLE STENCI \ !iri that separate cell, and so far as £ this writer has been able to asor- i tain, it lias' existed for years ; .et 1 not the slightest attempt was mxk' 1 by Cleary or /his minions to disco"VU' i the cause.. But the other day, ?s 1 soon as Alexander had vacated it for 3 Ms old No. 4, the boards were' takqi < up, and there- was revealed a grc&t ( pool of stagnant water, which erteiw- c od for some distance. A pipe ruis f alonp; there, .but whether it lea-ke'd n 1 c ]iot, writer cannot .say. At anyraif*, c if ' took threfl days to bail the -shotf c [■$xiXa an.4it ps&i s.epifetb;jiis : 'v'^ft'Wij.i\

No iwonder the last' occupant of tliatj cell was ill -during his stay m quod,, like many another who has been! there before him. He had told Ward-« er Parker that it- was no place for a> human toeing, but that superior per-» son didn't take the victim out un* til after the third day.- when the germs of two diseases were soon m his system. And then he tokl him that "he had better behave himself.' »' Warder Rafter was asked fov the pris-« oner if he could go to' work, and hist' request was complied >with. As statedr above, though, he only worked a dayjf and a half, and then he fainted. The doctor, on being sent for, said that he had contracted both asthma and 1 pleurisy, and he was placed m the , padded eell — a compartment m whichi • invalids were placed owing to tih© gaol hospital being m the occupation of Lionel Terry. Cough mixtures andi fomentations wvjre what Alexander received, and -he revived sufficiently ta • turn up for his morning exercise, but the unfortunate fellow soon found! that even tHiis was beyond him — go-* ing for an hour at a time, that is,. Warder Diekerson, who has got a leatlssr tongue, and a great faculty; for using it when it isn't wanted,-, • u°ed* to always display his ability m < . this respect at those morning funci tions, and sick Alexander invariably, • came m for Ms little attentions. : THE GRUFF, GARRULOUS, GAS- : PIPE ; often got on to him because he - couldn't walk. The hard-hearted s wretch knew well enough that weak- ; ness prevented the chap from doing, \ t so. After pestering him more than usual one morning, the prisoner sat *' down, but was peremptorily informed! that he could not he permitted to do > so ; he must either take his exercise ' > i or go back to his cell. Eventually? i the man was ordered to his celt, and j felt so faint and feeble that he was r about to. lie down and rest. Then ; came along this brute of a Dickerj son, and ordered the removal of the r man's 'blankets so that he couldn't ' . use them, and that order was comi- plied with at once. This callous cove - m blue is indeed a daisy. It was a . b precious nice method of affording re- [ lief to, a man who was supposed to i bo under the doctor's care. This - scribe wonders if Gaoler Cleary (who i Ss lonly seen round cow and again) I knows of all the cruelties that ar® , practised under his very nose. Or tj does hO care a hang .whether they { . 1 are. practised or not ? However., on i the doctor's orders, the di«fc of tb* ; man was changed, and he got stew - and rjioe and a cup of soup, the lattec b sometimes twice a day. But although I stew is a pleasant variant m gaol, a i person who is unwell requires some--5 thing far lighter, and Alexander d&« » sired to know, if some arrowroot? h pc6iii ! ct s 7)e prepared L for tern. L L " "' vvnw|j do you take this place for ; do yo^gj^ think it's a damned boarding^^ house ?" .was the reply. He quickly} . shut up,; and tried to make tnebesU of .his stew. Warder Rafter,- 'whose conceit is as high as 1 a ceiling, ami '< whose 1 impudence is colossal,' has a bad habit of provoking prisoners,. • who might be tempted to make a hot reply and thus earn punishment* He frequently harrassed No. 4 dur- > ing the day by asking him what h» was making' a row for;- or finding fault wfch the cleanliness of Ms cell utensils, %d threateni-n'g ' to bring him before' ;the 'gaoler. Alexander iolt him one day he ought TO TRY AND SPEAK THE TRUTH and rotter Rafter walked away. TEafc w«as the occasion on wMch he complained of some imaginary row m No.. 4's cell, but closer scrutiny revealed that the occupant was engaged m reading his bible ! As for being taken before the gaoler, that was what the man ardently desired. He had many complaints to make against the curious customers who shoulder a rifle- He asked Warder Speight, m Dickerson's presence, one day, to be taken to Cleary, and was informed that he would have to have his name down. He thereupon asked one of them to put it down for him, and they (or one of them) agreed. But it was never done. Now,- why should fat old Cleary be so unapproachable ?, Why can't he see every prisoner every, day and ascertain if he is being properly treated, or otherwise ? What thei . devil is he paid for ? Because a man is a criminal, that's no reason why, any just complaint he has to make shouldn't be listened to and the matter remedied, if practicable. We hope Cleary will attend to this. If a man can't see him once to speak to m sis months, what kind of a gaoler is he ? His last appearance m the buildings is when he looks round to see that _all's well; everybody _ Jias . bean m "bed -hours then, "and complaints are' out of the question. It seems to this scribe that if the old bloke can't do more than he is doing, Chief Warder Nicholson should keep a smarter eye on Ms subordinates, and see that they don't do as they darned; well please with prisoners they have no time for. They are .apparently allowed to act too much on their own initiative, and that means a hot time for somebody, as often as not. That murderous maniac Hehir who used to go by the name of Smitaers,and who is NOW DOING A 7 LIFE SENTENCE, is taking, his gruel very badly. It has broken him up completely, but he will get used to his new life m time Ho constantly speaks of his sentences complaining bitterly of its harshness saying that, seeing that the woman wJiose throat he cut is alive and well !he shouldn't have been banished for; life.; He has hopes of someone starting. £ petition for the remission of his sentence, but ijh«.t is uhcvt th« I last thing m the world that will be done., Hehir has no friends,- and his crime was a most revolting one without even the shadow of y^ redeenun" feature. The man was at first confined m the padded cell with two others, but- has now been given a cell of his own, H<sf itf employed- m ths WGr-JfsJlQpSj;.