A horse rustler, an ‘incorrigible rogue’, and a man whose crimes were declared the result of being ‘overindulged by his mother’ are some of the thousands of fascinating stories uncovered by a prisoner file transfer.
The file transfer project, a major exercise that only happens every five years or so, is part of Corrections’ commitment to the Public Records Act. Corrections staff sorted through 34,000 inactive files to select 6,600 to be kept permanently, as part of the memory of government.
The oldest file tells the story of James White, a man of ‘swarthy complexion’, who was charged with horse-stealing in 1884. A newspaper article from the time describes White’s ‘sensational’ arrest: “Constable Slight, who was armed with one of the regulation Colt’s revolvers, after parleying with White for some ten minutes, got a chance, he thought, of destroying the hammer of White’s gun … he missed his mark and struck White on the left wrist, and before he could recover himself, sprang upon him and clapped on the handcuffs.”
White’s mug shot shows him posing with his hands across his chest. They believed you could tell a man’s criminal inclinations by the measurements of his hands.
A file from 1950 records a prisoner having his ‘tobacco stopped for one week’ as punishment for ‘failing to attend church service’.
Another file from 1948 shows a prisoner charged as an ‘incorrigible rogue’ for escaping, and being sentenced to three months hard labour.
The files, retained for their historical significance, will be stored with Archives New Zealand. Anyone will be able to see the older files – although public access is restricted for files less than 100 years old, to protect individuals’ privacy.
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ISSN 1178-8453