Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand
MEDIA RELEASE – fOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

1 July 2009

Don’t contract out punishment Caritas says

Management of prisons should not be contracted out, Catholic social justice agency Caritas told Parliament’s Law and Order Select Committee today.

Director of Caritas Mike Smith said that while some of the aims of a Bill proposing contract management of prisons were good, the agency does not see privatisation as the only, or the best, solution to solving the problems expressed in the Bill.

“There are many aspects of state controlled prison management that do need to change,” said Mr Smith. “We acknowledge that there are good reasons that groups from churches to Māori iwi and hapū are seeking more involvement in the care, rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners both before and after release – and we strongly support these innovations. However, we believe such innovation is best achieved through partnership rather than privatisation,” he said.

Caritas acknowledged the Bill is trying to make cost savings in the overall delivery of prison services. But one of the purposes of imprisonment is to provide opportunities for offenders to turn their lives around, and the success or failure of any prison service should be seen primarily in rates of re-offending after imprisonment. Mr Smith noted that, “The privatisation question needs to be addressed from the point of view of what is best for society as a whole.”

Lisa Beech, Caritas Research & Advocacy Co-ordinator, told the Select Committee: “There are some powers of the State which are so significant and have such far reaching implications for the protection of human rights that we need to think very carefully about contracting out those powers to any other hands.” That particularly applies wherever force or the threat of force is used, such as in the prison service.

Caritas cited the United States Southern Bishops who said of private prison operations, that when prisoners become units from which profits are derived, there is a tendency to see them as commodities rather than as children of God.

The US Bishops’ view against private prisons hardened in 2003. As a result of increased violence in many privatised prisons, 43 Bishops of Southern US states called for the government to refuse to sign new contracts or renew existing ones with private prison corporations.

Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand is a member of Caritas Internationalis, a confederation of 164 Catholic aid, development and social justice agencies active in over 200 countries and territories.

ENDS

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