Sound clip: executions at Mt Eden Prison

Don McKenzie, a former prison psychologist at Mt Eden and retired director of research in the Justice Department, describes reactions to a hanging in the prison.

Transcript

You were a prison psychologist at Mt Eden Prison, I believe, at a time when the death penalty was enforced. What is the effect on the prison when a hanging takes place?

Well, as the execution approaches the prison goes quieter – a sort of grim moodiness settles over the place, and staff become a little more agitated, nervous, apprehensive – especially the superintendent who, of course, has to carry the full burden. The prisoners themselves become very sad and usually try to do something for the condemned man – give him cigarettes or something like that – but there is an odd silence over the place as the day approaches.

As part of your duties did you have to attend a hanging?

Yes, I did. It wasn't part of my duty, but I think the superintendent felt that I should, as a member of the staff, attend at least one hanging.

Could I ask what effect it had on you personally?

Absolutely dreadful, quite the most unforgettable event in my life, and I hope never to have such an experience again.

Did it colour your feelings about the death penalty at all?

Well, I was never in favour of it but certainly having been to one, made my feelings absolutely concrete as far as that is concerned.

Was hanging itself an unusual occurrence for murderers in New Zealand?

New Zealand hanged 27 murderers since 1900. It was fairly unusual, yes.

What then normally happens to a murderer once he is convicted and in gaol?

Well, he is weighed every morning, because on the day of the hanging he has to be weighed, and a mock-up hanging take place with a sack of sawdust of the exact weight of the man. In order to allow the man not to know when he's going to be hanged – what the day is – he is weighed every morning. He is attended 24 hours in his cell by officers on eight-hour shifts. He is never alone in case he presumably commits suicide and cheats the gallow of its prey. He is given normal food if he can eat it, quite often of course there is no great appetite. We try to keep him going with playing draughts with him or chess or something like that, and that's about it.