THE PRISON SYSTEM.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9272, 26 June 1908, Page 1

THE PRISON SYSTEM.

* THE NEED OF REFORM. - MR G. LAURENSON'S VIEWS. *■ There is an opinion, fairly general in ' New Zealand, that the dominion does not by any means set an example to the world in regard to the treatment of criminals. It is held by persons whose views are entitled to resped£ that the prison system fails in two essential points : that it ie neither so deterrent nor so reformative as it should be and might be. While little or no blame is attributed to the officers who administer it, the system is, in fact, regarded in some quarters as somewhat of a failure. One who holds decided views on the question of prison reform in New Zealand is Mr George Laurenson, M.P., who, in a recent conversation, gave a reporter his opinions. " For several years," eaid Mr Lau.rensca, "I have been six i ving -fco !.&..«> an alteration made in our present system of treating those committed to our gaols. An important step in this direction was taken come years ago, when the authorities decided to establish tree-planting camps. The result of that experiment is ample justification for a further move in the same direction. At present there- are 126 men confined at these camps, and last year they cleared a large area of land and planted in round figures, two and a half million of trees. "The directions which further reform should take 'are, in my opinion, teaching the prisoners some useful industry and giving them some incentive to do thek best, not only for themselves, but for their country, while they are in confinement. Of course there are criminal degenerates of a certain '"type who are past reformation, biit no one can deny that we could reclaim a much larger percentage of our criminals than we do at present. Our gaols i are pictures of cleanliness and order, and the food is plain, but wholesome, | but the gaols do little to help or to inspire the man who comes within their j walls with a desire for better things. What is the result? Last year we received into our gaols 2670 prisoners. Of these 2046 were relapsed criminals. These figures speak for themselves. " All civilised nations now recognise that there are two reasons for sending the man who breaks the law to gaol. First, to protect society; second, if possible, to reform the lawbreaker. It would pay us to do more in the second direction than we have hitherto done. Leaving out Continental and American experiments, which have shown encouraging results, let us look at what has been, done in New South Wales. In 1894 the population of that State was 1,260,000 people, and the number of prisoners in the gaols 2580. To-day the population numbers 1,571,000, and. the gaol population has fallen to 1460. In other words, ono person out of every 488 in Now South Wales was in gaol in 1894; to-day one out of every 1074 is in that position. That means that the new system there introduced has in a little over a dozen years saved one out of every thousand -of the people Of our sister State from a life of crime. At the same time, New South Wales has^educed tho cost of her gaols I by £41,000 per annum, and increased the value of the work produced by the prisoners by over £11,000 per annuni. We in New Zealand have always con.sidered that we had less of a criminal population than New South Wales, but for the year just closed we had one prisoner to every 1073 of our population. " The reforms which might be inaugurated in the immediate future need entail little expense. First, let the prisoners have better \ighted cells, and do not keep them in darkness for prac* tically eleven hours out of every tweri-1 ty-four. Then, give them more literature than they have at present and give all prisoners an opportunity of learning some business that will be useful to them when they are set free. In. addition to this, prisoners should have certain tasks allotted to them and be paid for all work done over and above the appointed task. Under the New South Wales system a school is attached to every prison, where every wellbehaved prisoner can obtain instruction in almost any branch of knowledge. Another step might be taken* in New Zealand. Shift our gaols out of the townis into the country. The I marching of prisoners, convict-garbed, through our streets not only hardens and brutalises the prisoners but familiarises our boys and girls with scenes which ,they should not witness. If steps are taken in the directions which

I have indicated, I have little doubt what the result will be. We will save money and we will do something' better — we will save human beings. If we do not do these things, th^n our experience will be different from that of every other country .Vhich has attempted to reclaim her law-breakers. " The reforms I have indicated need not involve ' coddling ' the prisoners. They would be compatible with the strictest discipline. Indeed, this is the case in New South Wales, where, under tho system introduced by Captain Nietenstein, the most rigid discipline is observed in the prisons." " In comparison with modern prisons our gaols are much under-staffed. In New South Wales, or the average, there is an official for almost every three prisoners. I have not been able to get hold of the figures for New Zealand, but I know tnat the proportion of prisoners to officials is much larger. In conclusion > I would say that it might be worth while to remember that there is I nothing so expensive to a community as a criminal."