The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1956)(about) |
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Saturday 6 September 1952
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2 corrections, most recently by Tomoko.Chida - Show corrections
WHEN A GIRL GOES TO
GAOL—THE
FAULT'S OURS
THE girl sat with her back to the cell door, staring
into the dull room. It was 5 o'clock, and she was locked up for the night. She was 15. She was a prisoner in Pentridge.
Drearily she thought of the past years—and wished she had a cigarette.
There was a lot she didn't remember about her childhood—a lot she did remember and wished she could forget.
Who is this girl, this 15-year-old woman pris-
oner?
Her exact name is un- important. She has a number. She is one of
at least 20 girls of 17 and under who have been sent to Pentridge in the last two years.
We will call her "Val" (that is not her real name), and look into her past — a past that could belong to any of these "bad" girls.
*
WHEN Val was a baby,
her father deserted her mother. Not long
afterwards the mother took to drink.
Real poverty crept into their family life. Piece by piece, the furniture was sold. The two moved from their small house into a miserable room at Carlton.
As Val grew older her mother began to find her a nuisance. There was only one room in which she could entertain her men friends.
So Val was sent away for hours at a time—left with friends, parked in hotel lob- bies.
When she was four, the police visited her mother's room. Soon afterwards Val became a ward of the State.
*
AT four and a half, she
entered her first in- stitution. She remained there until her school life finished.
At 14 she was transferred with other girls to another home, and put to laundry or domestic work.
She was starved of affec- tion, individual attention.
By LISA ALLAN
Her personality was re- pressed, her ingenuity and individuality knocked out of her by regimentation.
Slowly the peculiar pat- tern of rebellion, deceit, dis- honesty formed until, at 15, she escaped.
Her background now is just a void. Her desire for companionship, affection, and warmth is strong. She falls a prey to some man.
Any moral stability she may have had is quickly broken. She is found sleep- ing out, consorting with men in public places. Her desire to be wanted, to be needed takes an immoral expression.
*
NOW she stands on
the line that divides the girl who has made a few "mistakes" from the girl who is a prostitute.
Finally she rebels against her institutional background, and, in mistaken self- defence, attacks the society she has grown to hate.
Soon, she finds herself at Royal Park Receiving Depot. The kindness shown her is bitterly rejected. Whenever Val rebels against authority she feels she is "getting her own back" on all grown-ups who have made her life what it is.
Soon the gates are bolted and barred behind her. There is nowhere else for the authorities to send this "in- corrigible" child.
At 15 she is a prisoner on remand at Pentridge.
Here, she is locked in a cell, away from the older women criminals, who sleep in dormitories.
*
SHE rises at 7, eats at
7.30. Then, with other prisoners, she spends the day in mainten-
ance cleaning, laundry, weaving, and gymnasium.
Her uniform is a plain brown and white tailored frock. Her shoes are flat, her
stockings lisle. On special occasions she may wear a colored dress.
But the thing Val misses most of all is her liberty. For though the tasks that are given her are not in- ordinately hard, the fact that they must be done at a cer- tain time is real discipline.
Val's future isn't very hard to foretell.
But her real punishment is yet to come.
The stigma of having been in prison will always be upon her, no matter how ade- quately she rehabilitates her- self. Even if others forget, she will always know.
WE see the price they pay, but what re- compense do they get for paying it? Has their im- prisonment been justified? When they leave will they be trained for a better life, or just left high and dry?
Matron K. Perrin, of Pent- ridge Gaol, answers:
"This place is actually a PRISON, and there are no facilities to cope with young delinquents. It is difficult, to say the least, to give these girls the proper disci- pline and fully employed
day they need to rehabili- tate themselves.
"We have no facilities for
really helping these girls. Everyone agrees that a more suitable institution should be provided; but that is as far as we can get.
"Even the plans have been drawn up, but recently we were told, as a final answer, that no money would be made available for these purposes."
A FULL inquiry should
immediatey be made into the whole system of caring for State children and of women prisoners and female juvenile offenders.
The second step should be the appointment of an ad- visory panel of psychologists, criminologists, social work- ers, and persons with prac- tical experience in these problems.
The board should be in no way connected with the Gov- ernment.
Other States have such a board. Why not Victoria?
As to the actual treatment of these girls, social workers, psychologists, and those with practical experience say that the cottage system is ideal.
With individual cottage "mothers,' most of the regimentation that comes from institutional life would be alleviated.
But if the girls must be sent to a women's prison then the womens prison should be moved away from Pentridge — at once!
If funds are not available for the building of a sepa- rate reformatory then a small separate reformatory should be built on to the women's prison.
And in all these en- deavors the most important thing should be that no effort be spared to give these girls the love and affection, the security, and stability, which they have been denied.