GUEST BLOG: Jackie Foster – YOU DON’T GO TO PRISON TO DIE
I haven’t blogged lately, rather choosing to sit back and watch the circus unfold
shall we say.
Previously I have been a very strong advocate against the current correctional
system that this country has and when I saw news headlines the other day
where are an inmate had died it only reiterated what I have been saying for a
long time. My thoughts go out to the whanau of the deceased.
The question I have is when are our politicians going to listen to solid advice
and do the right thing instead of taking advice from people who simply know
nothing.
As CEO of Social Justice Aotearoa I am absolutely disgusted that three people
have been brutally murdered in our prisons in the last four years, but still
nothing changes.
Blake Lee was brutally stabbed to death in Paremoremo having only been
transferred to that prison two hours prior to his death and this event was
followed closely by the brutal beating and murder of Bradley King at Linton
prison in February of 2021 and now in June of this year we hear of another
inmate brutally beaten to death in Mount Eden prison.
I have chosen to speak out on this matter because this must be the last death
that we see in a corrections facility in Aotearoa. Double bunking must stop
immediately because clearly two of the last three deaths in our corrections
facilities can be attributed to double bunking.
My position is very clear, not one person deserves to go to prison to die,
something I will advocate for for the rest of my life.
I will be writing to the minister of Corrections this week and I will seek to meet
with him before Christmas because he is the minister, and he is responsible for
what happens in our prisons and I will hold him and this government to account.
Jackie Foster is CEO of Social Justice Aotearoa
I know a person who works on the front line of a prison .She deals with this shit everyday and in the short time she has been there has had to deal with suicides and attempted suicides regularly .The last person who attempted suicide was normally very well behaved and had been in his unit for a long time getting on with his job and living peacefully with in that unit and the other inmates .For some reason the officers decided to upset the apple cart and moved him to another unit where they knew it would not be safe for him .The next day he attempted to take his own life .
This follows another incident in the same prison where a new arrival received a 3 hour bashing which guards knew about because the perp was seen entering his cell but did nothing to intervene .
What about the case with the young prisoner put in prison for a misdemeanor who was continually raped, who is responsible for this, our government and the Corrections Minister.
Locking so many up has consequences eventually many have to be released back into society and prison can do more damage, incarceration also has social implication for families particularly children.
sadly that is common ,way more punishment that they deserve.