55

1.—4,

ANSWERS TO THE SEVERAL QUESTIONS REQUESTED BY CIRCULAR.

AUCKLAND GAOL. I. —As to the Existing Prisons op the Colony. 2. Description of each Prison. (1.) Situated near Kyber Pass Road ; surrounded by more elevated ground than that upon which it is built, easy of access by road, and distant about one and three-quarter miles from the Supreme Court, and about two miles from the Resident Magistrate's Court. (2.) Wood. (3.) There is no plan under the control of the Alsiting Justices. (4.) A wooden fence, twelve feet high, round each of the two portions into which the Gaol is divided—namely, an old division and a new division, and a dressed-stone wall, eighteen feet high, round the old division, in which convicted male prisoners are confined. (5.) New- division: 1. Females convicted or on remand, &c.; 2. Debtors and boys; 3. AVaiting trial and on remand (males). Old division: 4. Hard labour, in default of bail, &c.; 5. Penal servitude. Prisoners who have been "previously couvicted" sleep in separate cells; those sentenced to penal servitude also sleep in separate cells (females are not so separated from each other). All other prisoners sleep in associated cells of various dimensions, but not less than three in any one cell. (6.) Accommodation in all for 281 prisoners—namely, in cells adapted for only one, 101 ; in cells adapted for more than one, 180. (7.) Cellular accommodation :—

(8.) Years—lB73, 142 ; 1874,167; 1875, 177 ; 1876, 162 j 1877, 174. (9.) Exercising yards as follows : —Old division: Penal servitude prisoners, 94 ft. x 47 ft. 9 in. j hard-labour prisoners, 102 ft. x 80 ft.; hard-labour prisoners, 97 ft. x 29 ft. 9 in. ; solitary prisoners, equal to 46 ft. square. New division: Waiting-trial prisoners, 82 ft. x 55 ft.; debtors, 82 ft. x 39 ft. 5 in.; females, 74 ft. 9 in. x 69 ft. Work yard: The space between the outer stone wall and the inner wood wall in the old division is used as a work yard in which penal-servitude prisoners under long sentences are employed in stone-breaking; and in this space are also situated the workshops of the blacksmiths, carpenters, and shoemakers. Area of this space about 10,800 square yards.

Class of Occupants. Cells. If umber of Occupants. Length. Breadth. Height. Numher of Cubic Feet for each Occupant. Ft. in. Ft. in. Ft. in. Ft. ew Division Women — Solitary 6 81- _-/ , 6 60 r i _. 8 0 20 0 14 0 17 2 12 7 10 6 12 10 10 5 10 5 6 7 16 6 12 0 10 7 10 8 10 1 10 7 9 0 9 0 10 3 539 Associated J- 12 6 J 260 Boys— Associated Debtors 2 2 U 2 18 l\ 12 2 27 31 1 6 1 1 1 5 6 6 30 2 18 1 4 12 2 27 31 1 70 5 { 10 6 10 8 14 1 12 4 10 10 8 10 6 2 7 6 8 7 8 7 8 4 8 4 8 4 21 0 15 2 15 8 15 0 7 6 8 0 10 5 10 9 10 9 4 10 5 6 9 4 5 0 5 3 6 6 5 6 5 6 5 6 9 7 9 4 9 7 8 7 4 4 12 6 12 6 350 462 Waiting trial 1 12 6 362 Solitary Single ... 12 6 10 11 7 4 10 0 9 3 9 3 8 2 7 2 8 2 7 8 7 4 7 4 9 3 10 9 654 530 422 375 419 516 374 328 374 lid Division Condemned Associated .. 180 >> Solitary 349 orking-rooms... A shed divided into three to form workshops for 1. Carpenters 2. Shoemakers 3. Blacksmiths 17 17 18 5 5 0 18 10 12 0 3 4 }° 0