Corrections Statment

24 July 2015
Ray Smith, Chief Executive, Department of Corrections

Last night I signalled that I was taking legal advice and considering all of my options available in the contract with Serco following a week of serious allegations involving their management of the Mount Eden Corrections Facility.

I now need to act in the interests of the safety of the staff and prisoners presently in MECF. Secondly, I need to ensure that the Chief Inspector of Corrections can complete his investigation into these allegations. He is undertaking this investigation alongside the Ombudsman who is providing independent oversight.

This morning I met Corrections Minister Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga and following this meeting the decision was made to invoke the “Step In” clause in the contract Corrections have with Serco.

This allows me to place a Corrections Department Prison Director and management team into the prison to oversee its day to day running while keeping Serco’s staff on site.

Serco has been informed that I will begin this process on Monday.

I will determine how long the “Stepping In” process will continue for.

In the meantime financial charges may be imposed in respect of the issues that have surfaced over the last week. These are likely to be substantial.

There are also other options potentially available to me under the contract. These include a Final Warning and Early Termination of the contract. I have not taken these options at this stage and will wait the outcome of the Chief Inspector’s review and consider its findings before proceeding further.

The ten year contract allows a review after six years and this process of review had actually begun a couple of months ago.

ENDS

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