Better clothing won’t solve prison crisis

by David Clendon

I sat in on the Law and Order Select Committee today, to hear what Minister Collins had to say about ‘Vote Corrections’ (i.e. the 2010-2011 budget).

We don’t have a permanent member on the committee (seats are rationed according to party size, and with only 9 MPs we don’t get to sit on all of them) so I was only able to observe rather than participate.

Fortunately there was much to entertain and occasionally inform.  The Minister arrived, along with her CEO Barry Matthews and a retinue of officials.  Their opening gambit was to present a ‘show and tell’, proudly displaying examples of her ‘solution’ to the growing violence in our prisons.  These included riot shields, batons, pepper spray (in bottles the size of a small fire extinguisher!), heavy boots and anti-stab vests.

Now all this equipment will no doubt be necessary and useful in protecting our prison officers when violence breaks out, though not of course until they have had an opportunity to ‘gear up’, but there is also an urgent need for policies and practice that will reduce tension and stress in the prisons.

The tension and violence however will continue to intensify, due to the Minister’s misguided policies such as double bunking, 3 – strikes, and other regressive NACT government punitive measures that are doomed to fail.

Being a hands-on kind of guy, Mr Matthews sportingly agreed to model the new helmet to demonstrate its efficacy.  Unfortunately the effect was somewhat diminished when he put the helmet on backwards, and seemed momentarily confused as to why he could not see very well.

Here’s a tip Barry – the clear visor bit always goes to the front, the black ‘collar’ bit always goes to the rear!

Labour members on the committee did some good work in digging below the rhetoric about increasing funding for rehabilitation and reintegration – the reality is that these areas are still hopelessly underfunded, and will continue to be until there is a fundamental shift in our approach to crime reduction and offender management.

The Minister once again referred to her delighted anticipation that bringing private providers into the sector would bring innovation, which rather begs the question of why she or Mr Matthews are unable to encourage or support innovation within the public sector?  When asked why a company with rather a chequered history internationally was being short-listed to manage the Mt Eden remand prison, Mr Matthews replied that ‘short-listing doesn’t mean anything’, which might be disappointing news for the shortlisted!