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TEE PI S-Y DEPBRTKtENT.
"The aanntI, report of 'the Comptrol
ler of Pri.ons shows that Captain Nei
tenstein thoroughly 'mderstands the
inmportanuce to the conlmunity of the
offlice which he so:ably fills, lie fully
realises the fact that tlhe welfare of a
community derends, not on the num
ber of its raemibers within prison
walls, but ,on thllose who are olltside
tlhem. Last year New South Wales
showed a decrease of 97 prisoners
thle total of inmates being lower than
in any.year ~iicd 1883, when thepoplu
lation of the colony.was very mucih
legs. The departmental statistics
shorw i great d'lecrease in the number
of prisoners committedil to gaol. .In
tvwo years the entries fell by 20 per
cent. -It is stated that the decrease
was Iminly amoing the vagrhnts..andi
petty offenders, who apparently are
greatly disgusted Wiith certain altera
tions in gnaol routine ('hich have "re
cently been made. "A large number..of.
the entries : are necessitated by* that
unmerous clIss-the habitually drun
kell inld vagrant. There can be no
doibt that special treatment is re
quired for these. 'Fo the reception of
vagrants natl casual drunkards. the
Comuptroller-General desires to see aii
penitentiary established, and for tile
habitual druinkards an inebriate asy
lum. The ne'ed for an institution of
thile latter kind has long been plain to
everyone who has given a.thought to
the matter. As an instance of 'this
niecessity it is 'tanted that in Biloela
Gaol there were six men whose convic
tions averaged 104 each, and six
women wuho averaged 160 each. One
poor wietch hld' a record of no less
than 351 con~ictions-a fact which
showns that the case required other
thin prison discipline.. -
Captain Neitelistein points .out a
blot in our penal system which ought
to receive tile early attention of tile
Legislatuie. An every-day occurrence
at every police court of the country is
the committal' of persons to gaol
who are unable to .pay their fines.
Recently a disposition has been shown
by many magistrates to give persons
fined time in which to pay the
amounts. If tlnt system were put
nmore generally into practice an enor
mous reduction would take place in
the prison population. Last year no
less.than 57 per cent. of gaol entries
consisted of tlhose who wvere impri
soned in default of fines: In all other
species of debt the c?editor is gene
rally content to take a part if time
whole cannot be paid at once. Not so
Father Antic, the criminal law, who
in default of the payment of paltry
finey, saddles the country with heavy
expenditure on penal establishments
and compels his debtors to idleness
and knowledge of penal surroundings,
familiarity with which can do them no
good. Sometimes a poor wretch who
is fined twenty shillings can only pay
half that amount, but would gladly
pay all that hlie lut in order to maike
a cor~i~ponding' reduction in the alter
native term of imprisonmelt, The
question arises-Why shoul he l not be
enabled to meet t41? itw half-way
w-len he it i?.hted to do so? In
EIngland the same quiestion is being
asked. There can be no doubt that
soon both there and here the Gover~s
ment will be relieved of much heavy
expenditure now unnecessarily in
curred in carrying out the alternative
to non-payment of fines. The wives of
those who are brought within the
reach of the law will then not be
forced to suffer as they now do for
the faults and misdemeanours of their
lhusbands.
Undoubtedly the executive head c t
the Prison Department has. m'ih
xeasonl for complaint at the Pra'ctice
wlhich prevails of using gaol s n lu...
tic 'isylunis. *ltogether. Upwards of
500 persons were tr p t arll uin st
~eax for :ictu~l o
SheaUomptf ..a s-upposed:insanitv.
perly '-- .ollkr-General very pro
in- .d:-"' Trhe gaols were never
..~tdti to: talke the-plaoe of lunatic
n?'him1 mxnd ,the :gaol officials were
certalinly not, selected on account of
any special knowledge they might
possess in the treatment of tihe in
sane." A general disposition is ex
hibited by many officials to send
luniitics, paupers, and waifs of various
kIinds to places which should be
strictly reserved for the reception and
treatment of criminals. Captain
Neitenstein has very strong views on
the sending of juvenile wrong-doers
to gaol. "It is satisfactory," he states,
" to observe that few children are now:
rommitted to prison. None should be.
Legal technicalities occasionally hin
'd?e 'the dictates of common sense, and:
ch'i'drein ire consequently sent to gnol.
TO:pnt a sto1i to any-chance of further
foolish l?roceedings of this sort, legis
lation is:required. Power: should be
given to the judiciiyr, as well as to the
'ini~stracy, to commit ill persons
uihder 17, whatever minglit be. the
offence charged against them, to re
formatoiry institutions for tlhe
yo\mg." There can be no doubt that
the early accustoming of juveniles to
the withering influences of prison life
is nothling else than the manufactur
ing of Ihabitual prisoneis:. The treat
mcent of criminals is oftemi almost:
hopeless work, but it all events it is
absolutely necessary that the placing
of the gmol stamp should be defeired
until it can be declared that all other
remeduial. and corretive .. iilfluences
have been tried andfound wanting.'
In his report the ComptrollerGlene
r'l manlfests his desire to earry on
his duities bn the best and most en
lightened lines.- The.-abolition ,of tlihe
yarding system; the~separation of trial
prisoners who hlid beeiln predvibously
c;onviceted fro lo?s' ?who had not, the
extension .of theremission system to
short-sentenced prisoners, the lighting
of cells ' tuld :other i improvements.ac
complished or .projectedi show . that
the management of our prisons is not
iegardled merely. as the : .neehanical
discharge of work prescribed ,by the
ilkaise of a highler" department: . For
the eflicient discharge of suchi duty,
not only is a good,head required, 'but
a syrlmpthetic .heairt .tdwards thoseo
siho are desirous of ietiracingi :false
steps, which ought not to have been
takeni. The endeavouir to raise the in
tellectiil :standard' of tihe oficers en
giged.in tihe.department is i. step .in
the right,diredationili ind:slhoild' lIe pro
ductive of goo6 results. hAs much harm
his. been done in:i the piisons of tie
world:from wanit of thogi~htmas from
rwant of theart.-: As iprisons are indis
pensable, it is highlly necessary that
those' concerned in theit* working
should be the best pronurable of ,he
class of men required. It is hoped
that the Goverriment will do all in 'its'
power to still furtlhr 'reduce th t I
Iprison population, 'aid that tle. legit-:
Inture will.co-operate therewith b;
keeping the criminil procedui'e .of
the colony abreast of the enlighten
Inent and advancement of the close of
the nineteenth century.
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