(i) By a current inmate of Wi Tako

Society's so called respectable citizen (Mr Average), has no idea or concern about the man behind bars. All they know and believe is what the police and courts sensationalise via the news media.

This is a book about one man's experience in a New Zealand prison. It is a brief account of the humiliation, frustration and despair suffered by a reasonably well educated and civilised middle-aged man in New Zealand's 'model' first offenders institution, Wi Tako, just north of Wellington.

"Justin" as he prefers to call himself, for obvious reasons, was sentenced to two years imprisonment for an unspecified crime of a sexual nature, apparently relating to children. His somewhat half-hearted insistence that he never committed the crime for which he was convicted, does little to gain him any sympathy from the reader. But, nevertheless his description of life in a first offenders prison is quite moving and within its limitations, accurate. However, the briefness of this book allows little room to convey the atmosphere of tension and depression which is such a marked feature of prison life. "Shell-shocked" new arrivals, numbly attempting to adjust to their new depressing situation, an unnatural world of extreme dullness aggravated by the unbelievable childishness, or perhaps masochistic behaviour, of a fair percentage of the "screws" (prison warders), these are some of the hassles facing prisoners in our 'model' prison.

Though the author conveys to a certain degree this atmosphere of depression, too much is left unsaid. Yes, there are occasional instances of attempted suicide and tears, but if 'Justin' really wants the reading public to be moved — and indeed moved they should be by such a book — it may have been better for him to have given a fuller account of the mental, physical and emotional damage that prison does not only to its inmates, but also to their families and loved ones, the pointlessness of prison life and most importantly the incompetence and general insensitivity of the staff. Of course we get the people who will say that a person should never have got himself into that situation in the first place, but that is another argument, the fact is that Wi Tako is presented to the public as a 'model' prison for first offenders, and therefore its prime function is rehabilitation.

Rehabilitation in prison is a complete myth! The Justice Department makes outrageous claims that it is helping the inmates prepare to re-enter society by allowing prisoners to go out on work parole (which incidentally was introduced by the Prisoners' Aid Society) and Sunday church parole (again introduced by church groups not by the Justice Department). But a lot of trouble is involved to get, work parole, particularly as it is up to the superintendent alone to grant it. The fact is, rehabilitation is a farce and nothing is being done about it. Work parole — being employed in an ordinary job in the community, but returning to the prison each evening, is the carrot that is waved in front of the inmate as a reward for 'co-operation'. This is given for the last few months or weeks of a sentence, if the inmate has managed to keep completely out of trouble for the entire duration of his sentence. Trouble of course can be for the most trivial and ridiculous reasons, e.g. having an extra ration of sugar in one's 'slot' (cell), or perhaps not wearing one's sandshoes to church etc. This one vital resettlement device has now been cut back drastically. 'Justin' was fortunate to have had his few months.

Psychological counselling is available to a few, but this also has been cut back considerably. This is seldom given to those who are most in need of it. Education is regarded as a privilege rather than a right, and is begrudgingly granted to those who are prepared to go through the incredible hassle of enrolling in a correspondence course. A teacher (or should I say 'screw') is in charge of all such great privileges. As 'Justin' notes, an inmate will invariably be given a prison job for which his own skills and experience are of least use.

The accounts of the childish and cruel games that the 'screws' play is true, due to the incompetence of the administration staff. The difficulties faced by inmates in getting even the most trivial request acted on and the general drabness of prison existence are all perfectly correct. It is just as well 'Justin' wasn't sent to one of the harder prisons — it may have broken him. 'Kid-fuckers' as offenders in his category are traditionally called, are despised in all prisons. In the prisons that this writer has been into, extreme violence has been dealt out to such offenders, and this by the inmates themselves. Such incidents as a throat cutting episode in a large prison in the North Island and the kangaroo courts presided over by the fellow prisoners in the very library 'Justin' fondly refers to, have occured. He was extremely lucky to serve his term without injury.

He states that his inmate colleagues wanted him to tell the public what they are really like. He makes an attempt at this by recounting a few conversations and experiences he had with his fellow 'boob-heads' but here he is far too brief. Inmates — particularly in a first offenders prison — are a surprisingly ordinary bunch of blokes, in fact a reasonable cross-section of the NZ community.

Perhaps he should have dwelt more on case histories and the attitudes of his fellow) prisoners, and cut back on his poetry and verse, which bears little relevance to the story. Prisoners are, after all, real people who are in general by no means the danger to society that the courts and mass-media maintain.

The questions that 'Justin' poses in the final section of his book, certainly bear discussion and thought, particularly those relating to the role of prisons in society and certainly the question of first offenders prisons.

Prisons arc, briefly, universities for criminals. If you are not really one when you enter, you will be by the time you leave. Locking up several hundred men together in a relatively small space, with no natural sexual outlet and a general atmosphere of bitterness and tensions, can do nothing but harm to the individual inmate.

Prisoners are not encouraged to express honestly how they feel, in fact it is made clear to them that they will get nowhere by telling the truth. Deceit is the main password at Wi Tako; so much for the claims made by the Justice Department that rehabilitation occurs. 'Justin' suggests that pay increases for 'screws' may help to attract better men for the career of a 'turnkey'. However, only a certain type of mentality seems to get satisfaction out of locking up their fellow men. 'Screws' salaries are already relatively high, as they (happily) admit. But, as a staff training officer recently told me, "the better qualified and sincerely concerned men opt out for community social work or administrative positions", so the prisons are left with the dregs.

'Prisoner' is a commendable effort and it is to be hoped that this book will be read by as many people as possible, especially those who have been deluded into believing that prisons ultimately make for a better and safer society. Though fairly brief 'Prisoner' gives an accurate but out-dated account of life in one of NZ's so called rehabilitation prisons and how it affected one man. The next time you read in the paper about a man being sentenced to a term of imprisonment for the first time, just remember that he is entering an oppressive system from which he cannot emerge a better man— he is entering an unhealthy environment in which punishment, humiliation, degradation and if not strong willed enough, his own self respect, above all else punishment takes precedence over rehabilitation. Public vengence is satisfied, justice is seen to be done, and another criminal is created.