PRISON REFORM

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25385, 17 November 1943, Page 2

PRISON REFORM

DR MfcMILLANI’S METHODS CRITICISM BY SIR HUBERT OSTLER (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Nov. 16. In a statement to-day Sir Hubert Ostler commented on the remarks made by Dr D. G. McMillan, a former Minister in Charge of Prisons, in reply to Sir Hubert’s statement of Saturday. “It was not my intention to enter into a personal controversy with Dr McMillan, but only in the public interest to state the facts,” Sir Hubert said. “Dr McMillan’s first reply is that as the Prisons Board has no administrative authority I could have no knowledge of prison administration. 1 venture to say that I have seen a great deal more of the inside of prisons during my four years as chairman of the board than ever Dr McMillan did during his short term as Minister. He does not appear to be aware that, in addition to the reviewing of sentences, one of the statutory functions of the Prisons Board is to report annually to Parliament on the operation of the Crimes Act and other relevant statutes in relation to prisoners, and in this connection the board is interested in all phases of administration. Mount Eden Trouble “Dr McMillan complains of the charge I made that his administration was responsible for the Mount Eden trouble and he is at pains to explain that that brutal assault was the result of the non-observance of the prison rules. In excusing himself in Parliament he made a similar statement, alleging that ‘ the incident would not have happened if the warders had followed the routine.’ (See Hansard, 1941.) When Mr H. G. R. Mason, in reply, quoted from Dr McMillan’s own public statement as Minister at th'e time, that ‘the customary routine had been observed and there was .no lack of care and vigilance on the part of the staff,’ Dr McMillan interjected that if he could get access to the file he could establish his point.

“ When chairman of the Prisons Board I had access to the files, and I am able to state positively that the files reveal nothing that would suggest that there had been any failure on the part of the warders in the observance of the prescribed routine. The files do reveal, however, that there was • a state of unrest ’ in the prison, which was attributed by the controlling officers to the undermining of discipline through the actions of the Minister. “ Mount Eden was not the only prison where there was trouble at the time. There were also criminal assaults on warders at Invercargill and Paparua, and sci'ious acts of insubordination in other prisons. These were attributed by the officials entirely to Dr McMillan’s strange conduct.

Private Interviews with Prisoners “Dr McMillan went to various prisons accompanied only by a stenographer and interviewed prisoners in private. What took place at these interviews is not known, but it is known that immediately afterwards many of the prisoners became' insubordinate, and the, prison staff j.n several gaols had much difficulty in enforcing discipline. I do not suggest that Dr McMillan intended to cause any such trouble by his actions, but he ought to have had enough good sense to know that that method of trying to arrive at the truth was mischievous and dangerous.

“ It will be noted that Dr McMillan has somewhat shifted his ground. His main statement made at Dunedin was that our Borstal institutions were purely institutions for. the manufacture of criminals. When met.with the statistics showing that 80 per cent, of the inmates never come back, he remains silent. The public can draw its own conclusions. “Dr McMillan now admits that the services of psychiatrists are used, but says that they are not used sufficiently. That statement shows ignorance of the true position on his part. He has probably never perused the Prisons Board file. If he had, he would have known that in every case where there was the slightest suggestion of impaired mentality or where specialist guidance in the matter of treatment might be helpful, the services of psychiatrists are procured from the fine staff of alienists in the Mental Hospitals Department. Common Rooms in Prisons

“ I stated that practically all the prisons have a common room. In every prison erected during the last two decades special provision has been made for this, and there is a common room also in every prison camp. It is quite true that at Mount Eden there is no common room, but there is a schoolroom and chapel, and both these are used for the purpose of kinema entertainments, concerts, lectures, etc. “Dr McMillan states that because I made no special mention of the fact that there is no common room at Mount Eden it was therefore not surprising that I did not recall any changes in prison administration made by him. I did not claim that the statement I made of the more or less trivial reforms he had inaugurated (if indeed they could be so called) was exhaustive, but I am confident that he cannot point to one other reform that was introduced during his term of office.”