David Bennett - Corrections

22 November 2019

This Government has taken its soft on crime approach to a new level, now refusing to call people in prison prisoners, National’s Corrections spokesperson David Bennett says.

“In an absurd move, Corrections is now calling prisoners ‘men in our care’ or ‘clients’. This is ridiculous.

“The new language has come out of the Government’s new strategy Hōkai Rangi and shows just how delusional this Government and Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis really are. If someone is sent to prison it’s because they have committed a serious crime, they are not there to be ‘cared for’ by Corrections.

“If you do the crime, you should do the time. Going to prison is a punishment and shouldn’t be treated as a holiday.

“Kelvin Davis is focused on prisoners, not victims. He’s more interested in reducing the prison population than he is on the safety of New Zealanders.

“Kelvin Davis is the Minister responsible for this department. It allowed the man accused of killing 51 people in the Christchurch terror attacks to send inflammatory and intolerable views in several letters, and released double murderer Jason Reihana without telling victims’ families.

“There are clearly serious issues within this department and Kelvin Davis needs to stand up and sort them out.”

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