Further to Damien’s post on private prisons, the choice of Serco was sadly predictable. To be fair when it comes to private prison providers pickings are pretty bad, but Serco is right up there. Serco runs just about anything you care to think of- Light Rail, military support services, schools and health services. And the odd prison or two, in UK and Australia. Check out this video for a summary of their activities.
Several of the prisons are in the UK, where one in particular Ashfield Young Offenders Unit has been labelled the most violent prison in the UK. The Director-General of the UK Prisons Service said in 2002
I considered that the prison was unsafe for both staff and the young people
detained there and that urgent action was required.
Kilmarnock Prison is Scotland, also run by Serco was heavily criticised for its management, including the lack of basic education programmes. There have been reports of very poor treatment for patients, including a pregnant woman.
This of course follows on from the report last year that showed private prisons performing worse than public ones on a range of indicators.
In the end for me this is a matter of principle, but the experience overseas shows that far too often private prisons are associated with poor safety records, cutting corners and declining focus on programmes to aid rehabilitation.
In the course of writing this I came across this quote attributed to our Human Rights Commission. It bears repeating and sums up how I feel.
Punishment is a fundamental state power, carried out by government on behalf of the community. Such a central and significant power should be exercised wholly in the public interest taking into account the rights of all parties (victims, offenders etc) without regard to profit.
Posted in Serco, Law & Order and Private Prisons. |
As she often does Tapu Misa hits the nail on the head in her column in the Herald this morning (as noted by Tracey in the comments on an earlier post.)
Tapu notes
The idea that business does it better and more cheaply is an article of faith for many proponents of privatisation.The cynical among us remember that before bailouts became fashionable in the rest of the world, we had our own taxpayer rescues: Air New Zealand, BNZ, TransRail.
The ‘left’ are often criticised by the ‘right’ about a public is good, private is bad philosophy, but the reverse is equally common. I mentioned this last week in the context of private prisons. Despite evidence that private prisons have not delivered in terms of savings, both here and overseas, the mantra still seems to be that the private sector must be able to do it better.
Tapu’s article finishes
The public service has its faults, but while the line between public and corporate interests may have become blurred, important differences remain. As a former comptroller of the US, David Walker noted in 2007: “There’s something civil servants have that the private sector doesn’t. And that is the duty of loyalty to the greater good – the duty of loyalty to the collective best interest of all rather than the interests of a few. Companies have duties of loyalty to their shareholders, not the country.”
This is the key, especially when it comes to core issues like health, education, prisons and the like. Where the government is funding, they should be provided for the well-being and safety of the many, not for the profit of the few.
Posted in Privitisation, Law & Order and Public Services. |
It looks like funding for the Prisoners Aid and Rehabilitation Society is a goner. There is a story in the Dominion Post today that PARS will lose its $2.5 million contract.
This is a tragedy. PARS play a vital role in helping prisoners re-integrate into the community. For well over a hundred years they have helped with accomodation, facilitating job opportunities, and perhaps more than anything else, just being there for people who many in society want to ignore. They perform roles that busy probation officers simply can not do.
As Clayton Cosgrove notes in the article, the community will be less safe as a result of the funding being cut as people released from prison will lack the support to stop them from re-offending.
There are reports of concerns about some financial management issues. The work PARS does is important enough the the Minister and the Department of Corrections need to actively intervene to ensure it survives.
The overall issue of incarceration and rehabilitation in New Zealand needs attention. In the meantime, no matter what we might think of some prisoners, most people in New Zealand prisons will at some point re-enter society. Surely the key task while they are in prison, and immediately on their release is to work with them to make sure we do all we can to prevent further crimes being committed, and to help them find a path to meaningful and positive future. This is what PARS does, and the government needs to help them keep doing it.
Posted in Law & Order and Justice. |
