Decision to Increase Prison Cell Double-Bunking “Outrageously Irresponsible”

Queer and transgender group No Pride in Prisons is condemning the Department of Corrections’ decision to extend the policy of ‘double-bunking’.

According to a report from the New Zealand Herald[1], up to 130 more prison cells could be converted to dual occupancy cells, to cope with an ‘unexpected’ rise in the prison population.

Corrections chief executive Ray Smith claims that housing two prisoners in a single cell does not lead to an increase in violence.

However, No Pride in Prisons spokesperson Sophie Morgan says, “It is simply common sense that when you put two prisoners in a cell overnight, in the already tense environment of the prison, you are far more likely to be subjecting one of those people to violence.”

“Studies have consistently shown that double-bunking, and prison overcrowding more generally, directly leads to higher rates of violence, including sexual violence.”[2]

“Double bunking directly led to the rape of a Māori trans woman in Auckland South Corrections Facility last year. If it weren’t for the fact that this woman was left, by prison officers, overnight in a cell with a man, she would never have been raped.”

According to Morgan, “Corrections has chosen to ignore the very real violence that double bunking causes. This is outrageously irresponsible and a violation of human rights.”

“The expansion of this policy will put more vulnerable incarcerated people at risk. As with any policy which increases the chances of violence in prisons, the people most likely to suffer are queer and trans people, particularly trans women housed in men’s prisons.”

Morgan says that double-bunking policies are not the solution to overcrowding. “Double-bunking is essentially another way of describing the mass overpopulation of New Zealand prisons. The reason prisons are overcrowded in this country is because this government has insisted on increasing carceral punishment for petty crimes.”

“The solution to overcrowding is decarceration, not knowingly subjecting more people to violence. Instead of expanding the use of double-bunking, that policy needs to be abolished now.”

No Pride in Prisons is holding a ‘Fuck Pride Rally’ on the Karangahape Road overbridge at 5:30pm on Saturday February 20, during the Auckland Pride Parade. Among other issues, the group is protesting the policy of double-bunking and the increasing rates of violence within prisons as facilitated by the Department of Corrections.

[1] http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11591116

[2] http://www.gao.gov/assets/650/648123.pdf

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