GUEST BLOG: Arthur Taylor – Corrections Is Cramming Them in Tighter Than Sardines!
Corrections is dealing with the muster crisis by double bunking in cells that were not designed to hold more than one prisoner. They have not done this to date because they had legal advice and know that putting two prisoners in cell so small they barely have room for one is a recipe for disaster and may very well contravene section 23 (5) of the Bill of Rights Act which mandates prisoners be treated humanely and with respect for their dignity. The Ombudsman has just criticized corrections for this practice at the female overflow unit in Rimutaka prison. Chief custodial officer Beals justification is that we can’t turn prisoners away that the courts send us.
Well Mr. Beals, you can’t detain them in inhumane conditions either, especially when you have been given legal advice those conditions are inhumane.
New Zealand must abide by the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules (UNSMR) incorporated into New Zealand law by section 5 (1) (b) of the Corrections Act 2004. This requires prisoners have at least 6 square meters of living space.
Prison muster crisis are not unique to New Zealand they quite commonly arise overseas especially in the United States. In the United States courts often intervene and order the low risk prisoners be released to free up cells for those who are a danger to public safety. In Denmark they have a policy not to build anymore cells, so if a prisoner is sentenced at court and there is no room at a prison, if they are low risk, they stay at home until a cell becomes vacant. If they are high risk the prison releases a low risk prisoner to make room for them.
Something to think about Kelvin? Rather than wasting 11 -1.5 billion on building the Waikeria expansion.
Arthur Taylor is TDBs prisoner rights blogger currently inside prison.
I thought the maxim was ‘do the crime, be prepared to do the time and don’t whine about NZ prison conditions, imagine being banged up in Bali or Brazil. Well, ok, I have just added a bit there.
If you put prisoners into unsafe, brutal conditions, Rodders, what do you expect will happen? What will come out the other end? Socialised, rehabilitated people?
Of brutalised, unrehabilitated, angry men with no motivation to re-join society?
Let’s try a more sophisticated, comprehensive prison policy that doesn’t rely on childlike rhyming rhetoric.
It is Their CHOICEas Rehabilitation programmes and educational opportunities are available in prison and it is their opportunity. Are first time prisoners prepared to leave prison with basic skills, enabling them to secure 40-hour a week employment and leave the life of crime behind.
Or lean the lessons of the old timers who have spent so much time in prison on how to be a ‘successful’ criminal. Yeah Right!
You just have to compare the results of our prisons to those in places like Denmark to see who is making sense in this debate
stop talking through a hole in your bum Rodder. Have you been to prison I was visting Rimutaka Prison on Sunday and there isn’t enough courses for the prisoners there is a huge waiting lists the money hasn’t been invested in rehab only in locking more up some for trivial offences. Why do you think we have so much recidivism.
Yes there are opportunities but not enough also if many NZers and their families can’t find somewhere to live how hard do you think it is more an ex- prisoner. The last government sold thousands of our state houses and land to their business mates.
Actually I am using a keyboard.
No I have not been to prison, I was to well bought up.
However, having lived in Auckland for 30 years I have been burgled four times and had two cars stolen.
So when I read the column above, I think to myself ‘why didn’t Arthur Taylor get a trade/career and work 40 hours a week like everyone else’. And ditto for those people who burgled my house and stole my cars (once from my driveway)… and possibly from you as well.
Being burgled is not a nice feeling … but hey the thieves had tough lives … left school at 16 … blah blah blah
Actually come to think of it, NZ’s richest man Graeme Hart left school at 15.