Prisons not for sale in New Zealand

“The core business of prisons is to keep the community safe and reduce future crime; it is not to make money,” says MP for Wigram and Progressive Party leader Jim Anderton.

He was talking to prison officers who held a rally at parliament today to protest against the government’s proposal to re-introduce private prisons in New Zealand.

Former Progressive party MP and Minister of Corrections Matt Robson put a stop to the private sector’s involvement in the management of prisons in 2000. The National-led government is planning to reverse that policy.

“Prison management should never be a viable private business because we don’t want crime to become a growth industry for anyone,” says Jim Anderton.

“The priority must always be to have prisons that keep the community safe. For those offenders who return to society, they must be returned as safer members of our community.

“Australia is learning that its experiment in private prisons might not have been such a good idea.”

Australia has the highest proportion of inmates in private prisons (around 17%) of any other nation.There is no significant evidence to suggest that the performance of privately run prisons is better than publicly run prisons.

An empirical study of one private prison in Queensland concluded that the private sector has failed to deliver on promises of both internal and external reform.

In Victoria, the Metropolitan Women’s prison has been taken back from private operators because of serious deficiencies in the operation.

“This government is determined to go back to the future, and start the Australian experiment all over again in New Zealand.

“Imprisonment is essentially a state responsibility which should not be delegated to the private sector for cost cutting or profit,” said Jim Anderton.

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