Warehousing of Prisoners contributes to Violent Environment

“The real issue is not how prisoners got access to weapons, or manufacture them. The real issue is why weapon possession is increasingly becoming a feature of prison life”, says Kim Workman or Rethinking Crime and Punishment.

He was responding to recent criticism of the Department of Corrections, for failing to control prisoner access to weapons. “In 2008/9, the Department reported that there were 515 serious assaults on prisoners, or about 1 in every 16 prisoners.

However, the National Health Committee report states that all of the prisoners it interviewed said they had been involved in at least one violent incident while in prison.

“You don’t have to look far for the reasons. Prisoners are being locked up for longer, in prison and under more stressful conditions, , than at any other time in our history.

“The combination of increased lockdown hours, double bunking, overcrowding, limited access to whanau and families, to work, programmes and recreation, are producing unprecedented stress levels .”

“The National Health Committee reported that crowding, exposure to violence, illicit drugs, lack of purposeful activity, separation from family networks and emotional deprivation, all led to prisoner deterioration. In such circumstances, it is inevitable that violence will increase, and the need to arm oneself with a weapon, either for the purpose of attack or defence, is an unfortunate consequence of that.

“Prison officers can’t be expected to actively manage prisoners under those conditions – they can only function as custodians.”

“Those conditions have been aggravated by the increasing number of prisoners who have very little to lose through disruption. ‘ Three strikers’, and those serving 20 years or more, are likely to become prison predators – terrorising the 80% of prisoners who are serving less than six months, and who just want to do their lag and get out. It is this group that suffer the most, becoming hyper-vigilant, paranoid, and mentally unwell. That prisoners choose to access weapons for the purpose of self – defence is in the circumstances, understandable. “

“We don’t need extra rules, surveillance and punishments right now. What the government must do is systematically dismantle the conditions which create violence of this kind. It’s time to address the causes, rather than the symptom. “

ENDS

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