Parliament has just passed into law a bill that will allow for the establishment of private prisons in New Zealand.  Labour has strongly opposed this bill on the grounds of both principle and practice.  We believe that the act of taking away someone’s liberty and freedom is one of the most invasive state responsibilities, and as such needs to be handled as a core state role.  Public prisons have a moral accountable to taxpayers to support community safety and to rehabilitate, private prisons have an accountability to their shareholders to make a profit.  If  National really believe that prisons should be run by the private sector, why not the defence force and the police too?

In practice the evidence from around the world is that private prisons have not been more cost effective, and have most certainly not delivered in terms of safety or accountability.  When National last was in government the Auckland Central Remand Prison was run by a company with a dubious history in private prisons.  The result was in fact more costly, and staff on the ground reported that corners were cut.   Practical examples of shortcomings in private prisons from the US, Australia, the UK and Canada have been ignored by National in their headlong rush to drive their privatisation ideology.

As an aside National MPs in the debate showed very little enthusiasm, and did not even take all their speaking slots. They failed to put up any evidence to support the privatisation argument. Sandra Goudie the Select Committee Chair for the Bill said they just wanted to “give it a go”. Sigh. In contrast Dr Pita Sharples gave two very good speeches about the need for more innovative, early intervention approaches. But there is no reason that these approaches have to translate to private management.

For me, the bottom line is that New Zealand has far too many people in prison- one of the worst incarceration rates in the western world. What we need to do is focus on people not getting to prison in the first place. But if we are to have prisons we need them to be publicly controlled to ensure safety and accountability.