Clayton Cosgrove
Law and Order Spokesperson
MP for Waimakariri

10 May 2010 Media Statement

Ideology leading Government by the nose

The Government is reverting to a failed and costly experiment in deciding that the Mt Eden-Auckland Central Remand Prison will be run privately, says Labour Law and Order spokesperson Clayton Cosgrove.

“The last time this happened --- when National let a private contract to an Australian company to run Auckland Remand Prison from 2000 to 2005 --- it cost more per prisoner ($43,000) than the Corrections Department’s own operating costs for remand prisoners of $36,000 per inmate,” Clayton Cosgrove said.

“But there is a simple ideology operating here. It is National’s mantra that what’s private must work better than something run by government employees --- no matter what the evidence says.”

Clayton Cosgrove said it was nonsense to suggest that the only way to inject world-class innovation and ideas was to employ private contractors to do the job. “It is also a huge insult to Corrections staff and management to imply that they cannot implement new approaches and innovations that prove effective overseas.

“If the Government actually had faith in Corrections and in its Kiwi staff, prison officers might be a lot more confident doing their really difficult job. Instead, the Government is bent on undermining the job Corrections and its staff are doing.”

Clayton Cosgrove said Labour retained a healthy interest in public-private partnerships, but not for prisons.

“Locking people up in jails is a job for the state, not for private businesses whose prime motivation will inevitably be to make money.

“Labour doesn’t care who builds or designs a prison, but the state should run them. Punishment and rehabilitation are a core function of government. By transferring such a core function, even with so-called safeguards, to the private sector, the Government is shirking its responsibility for the safety of staff and the community if things go wrong.

“Public prisons are fiscally accountable to the state and taxpayers. Privately-run prisons are accountable firstly to shareholders, and this poses a real risk to staff safety, quality and work conditions, as well as rehabilitation services. Overseas experience has shown disastrous problems in privately-run prisons, ranging from bribery, corruption, increased violence and drug abuse, through to suicides.”

ENDS

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