Private prisons no answer for Maori
|
Privately-run prisons will do nothing to reduce Maori incarceration rates or decrease Maori recidivism, says Labour MP and Associate Maori Affairs spokesperson Kelvin Davis.
Kelvin Davis says Government claims that Maori can play a strong role in the operation of the proposed new prison at Wiri showed "a real level of deception or confusion on the Government’s part.
"On the one hand, the Government is saying that the successful tenderer for the privately designed, built and run prison must have a significant track record in terms of private prisons.
"On the other, it says Maori are expected to make a significant contribution, yet Maori don’t have the experience that the Government is demanding.
"Something doesn’t add up, and such confused thinking or misleading claims will do nothing to help Maori get off the treadmill of incarceration and recidivism."
Kelvin Davis said there had also been misleading claims that rehabilitation had improved the last time there was a privately-run prison in New Zealand.
"That’s more unsubstantiated nonsense. Evidence to the law and order committee on the Corrections (Contract Management of Prisons) Amendment Bill actually suggested the opposite. Prison officers who worked at the Auckland Central Remand Prison when it was privately run told the committee that they weren’t aware of better rehabilitation programmes, and that in the case of drug programmes, for example, there were actually incentives for the operators not to find drugs in the prison.
"It’s not overly cynical to suggest that when a business makes its money from locking people up, then effective rehabilitation programmes don’t offer the best outcomes for shareholders. It’s also likely that private prison operators will cut corners in terms of safe staff numbers and working conditions," Kelvin Davis said.
"With high Maori male unemployment and record high crime rates, conditions couldn't be any better for a private prison to make millions off the backs of our people."
