PQ 8. Phillip John Smith—Management of Temporary Release [Sitting date: 09 December 2014. Volume:702;Page:8. Text is subject to correction.]

8. KELVIN DAVIS (Labour—Te Tai Tokerau) to the Minister of Corrections : Does he agree with all the findings of the Summary of the review of the failure to return from temporary release of prisoner Phillip Smith?

Hon Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA (Minister of Corrections): Yes.

Kelvin Davis : What steps is he taking to improve the management of Spring Hill Corrections Facility given that the report found senior management “did not act with sufficient urgency” and the “escalation process beyond the prison was inadequate”, yet it made no recommendations on this?

Hon Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA : The review covered 13 recommendations and dealt with how prisoner Smith escaped from custody. So, in terms of the communication between officers, the recommendations in the review dealt with having a multidisciplinary approach to the assessment of temporarily released prisoners, and that is in recommendation 2.

Kelvin Davis : I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker.

Mr SPEAKER : Order! Can I just clarify before the member raises a point of order whether it is effectively saying that the question was not answered.

Kelvin Davis : Yes, it was not answered. The Minister referred to the recommendations. I was referring to a point where no recommendations were made and asked what he was going to do about it—given that no recommendations were made.

Mr SPEAKER : That sounds like an additional supplementary question the member now wants. [Interruption] Order! In my mind there is some doubt about whether the question was actually asked. No, that has not been raised by the member, so I will allow him an additional supplementary question.

Kelvin Davis : What steps is the Minister going to take to improve the management of Spring Hill given that the report did not make recommendations on Spring Hill?

Hon Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA : I will say it again. The report did not actually review the operation of Spring Hill; it reviewed temporary releases in terms of Phillip Smith escaping from custody. And those 13 recommendations dealt with issues that relate specifically to Spring Hill but also to other prisons across the country.

Kelvin Davis : Why was no recommendation made around reviewing the development of offender plans, given that Phillip Smith’s plan wrongly identified that he was suitable for release to work in minimum security?

Hon Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA : Recommendation No. 2 refers to how multidisciplinary teams will deal with temporary releases. In terms of the plan, we know that it was overly optimistic and we know also that it was misinformed. So recommendation No. 2 deals specifically with that issue.

Kelvin Davis : How many other prisoners like Smith—

Mr SPEAKER : Order! I am just going to ask the member to start again; I am having trouble hearing it.

Kelvin Davis : How many other prisoners like Smith have been released into the community on temporary releases without the Department of Corrections checking that the Parole Board was likely to release them in the near future?

Hon Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA : I do not have that figure to hand, but if he would like to place that question as a written question, I am happy to answer it.

Kelvin Davis : How will it be checked whether offenders are safe to be returned to the community before releasing them, now that temporary releases are limited to 12 hours?

Hon Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA : Sorry, I missed that. Could the—

Mr SPEAKER : Order! I invite Kelvin Davis to repeat that question.

Kelvin Davis : How will it be checked whether offenders are safe to be returned to the community before releasing them, now that temporary releases are limited to 12 hours?

Hon Peseta SAM LOTU-IIGA : The fact that they are limited to 12 hours is actually irrelevant to the issue of how you assess prisoners for release. As I have already said, one of the recommendations was that the multidisciplinary teams—whether it is the police, Child, Youth and Family Services, the psychologists; or various other professionals—will come together and give a holistic approach to how prisoners will be released. Whether they are released 12 hours or not is actually irrelevant.

ENDS

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