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. |
It was remarkable to see Judith Collins on the news last night arguing about the great success of private prisons internationally. I looked into this when the bill was charging through Parliament last year and almost everywhere they have been tried; the UK, Victoria, Canada and in the US they have not met financial expectations and have raised serious concerns about staff and community safety.
The latest report, in today’s NZ Herald from Florida makes the point again.
“The April report – from the Florida Centre for Fiscal and Economic Policy called ‘Are Florida’s Private Prisons Keeping Their Promises?’ – challenged claims that private prisons were 7 per cent cheaper to run and found no evidence that they were better at reducing recidivism rates. Florida’s experience with privatised prisons raises serious questions about whether the taxpayers are getting their money’s worth,” the report says.
Labour believes that incarceration should be the responsibility of the state. There are few more serious powers that a government has than taking away someone’s liberty. In addition the evidence shows that putting that responsibility in private hands, where the profit motive is the main driver, leads to cutting corners in terms of staff safety and pay and a reduced focus on rehabilitation. New Zealand needs to be focusing on how we lower our unacceptably high imprisonment rate, and look at reducing the causes of crime, not blindly following an internationally failed approach.
Posted in Private Prisons. |
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.
Posted in Justice and Private Prisons. |
