REMANDED PRISONERS.

Observer, Volume XXVII, Issue 43, 13 July 1907, Page 3

REMANDED PRISONERS.

How the Authorities Treat Them.

IT may be remembered that in a previous issue of the Observer we had occasion to comment on the case of Allan Cameron, a canvasser for an Auckland firm who was arrested on a charge of stealing a horse and buggy at New Plymouth. The prosecution broke down completely, and the case against Cameron was consequently dismissed. In our former comments we drew attention to the fact that Cameron, a man who had not been put on trial, was subjected to the indignity of being handcuffed and treated as a convicted criminal on the journey from Auckland, where he was arrested, to New Plymouth. This was bad enough, but since then ■We have been put in possession of certain further information by Cameron himself. This information — the authenticity of which we have no reason «to doubt — proves conclusively that the lot of the prisoner on remand is considerably worse than that of the convicted criminal.

Immediately after his arrest, Cameron was conveyed to the police cells in O'Rorke-street, where he had his home for two days. No exception could be taken to this • procedure. Cameron was without friends in Auckland and it was impossible for him to procure bail, therefore, it was necessary that he should be housed in the cells. He himself does not make any complaint on that score. What he does complain about is the fact that the bedding furnished to the unfortunate inmates of the oells was in a filthy condition, and farther, that on the second night of

his stay there he had a companion thrust in upon his privacy in the f)erson of an individual who was in a oathsome condition of drunkenness and dirt. Perhaps the authorities, in the goodness of their hearts, had noticed that Cameron was not very cheerful, and, in a burst of philanthropy, decided to furnish him with jovial company. If so, the philanthropy was somewhat overdone. So far as the bedding is concerned, the usual custom appears to be for the authorities to go round in the morning and collect the rugs, folding them up, irrespective of their condition, ready for issue on the following night. If this is so, then it is a dirty and unhealthy custom.

The next step in Cameron's progress was his removal to Mt. Eden gaol on remand. In the remand cells he waited for ten days prior to his removal to New Plymouth. And it is here that the distinction between a prisoner on remand and a convicted felon is found. Prisoners on remand are locked into their cells at half-past four every afternoon, and remain there until they are allowed out on the following morning. They are allowed no lights, a paternal Government evidently supposing that they can meditate over the joys of prison life without the assistance of lights. As for books, such frivolities are superfluous to a " remand " .man. He, presumably, is supposed to go to sleep at 4.30 p.m. and remain asleep until the warder wakes him on the following morning. If he can't sleep, then he can amuse himself by wondering what on earth he was put in there for, or by ruminating over his awful career of crime. In the morning he is gorged with unwonted luxuries in the shape of '"skilly" and other choice tit-bits, and is then allowed to promenade in a nicely ventilated yard where a warder keeps a fatherly eye upon his movements.

On the other hand., the convicted felon is not locked up for the night until five o'clock. He is furnished with a light, and, so long as he behaves himself, he has a good library of books to draw upon. His food is as good as that which is issued to the prisoners on remand., and, under certain conditions, he is given an allowance of tobacco. Also, the convicted criminal is housed in the newer and more up-to-date part of the gaol, while the prisoner on remand is accommodated in the old wooden building, where the cells, although scrupulously clean in appearance, are nevertheless infested by the species of insect known to science as " cimex lectularius," but which is known, in plain unadulterated Anglo-Saxon as a bug. Whether these insects have been thoughtfully provided by the philanthropic authorities, with a view of relieving the solitude of the prisoners or not does not appear clear, but some energetic prisoner -''held a ""battue" one night before it got dark and accounted for over fifty ' ' cimeces " in a little over half-an-hour, which, might give rise to a supposition that the authorities had placed them there in order that the prisoner might have some healthy recreation.

Further, on arrival at New Plymouth, and prior to his trial, Cameron had his finger-prints taken by the police. It would be interesting to know if it is usual to take the finger-prints of a man before he is convicted of any crime. It would also be interesting to know whether, in the event of that man proving his innocence, these finger-prints are kept in company with those of convicted criminals, with the name of the owner of the fingers appended thereto. If so, then a grave injustice is done to the innocent party. It seems quite clear that some radical alteration is necessary in the treatment of prisoners on remand. And if the condition of the remand cells at Mt. Eden gaol is as Cameron describes it, then it is certain that in the interests of health the building should be condemned. Were it a private, and not a Government, building, that would probably have been done long ago. The present condition of affairs is nothing more or less than a public scandal.