Media Statement 6 October 2016

Embargoed until 10am Thursday 6 October

Statement from Mark Irwin, Serco Asia Pacific Chief Executive Officer:

The Department of Corrections is today releasing the Chief Inspector’s report into events in 2015 at Mt Eden Corrections Facility (MECF).

Serco received this report in January 2016, and accepted in full all its recommendations.

In 2015 certain important areas of service delivery fell below levels which our customer, the Department of Corrections, the Minister of Corrections and the people of New Zealand had a right to expect, and for that, we are truly sorry. Important lessons have been learnt, and we have paid the Crown $8m recognising this and the costs incurred by the Department in taking over the management of the prison in July 2015.

MECF is a very challenging prison to manage. The Chief Inspector acknowledges that the prison has unique characteristics including a large proportion of high risk prisoners, the highest percentage of remand prisoners of any prison in the country and high levels of turnover.

We started managing MECF in 2011, with the task of maintaining safety and security and reducing the high rate of reoffending. From the start of the contract until 2014, MECF performed well; violence and incidents of self-harm fell to an unprecedented low and the prison ranked top in the country for reducing reoffending.

Since the step-in last year the Department has managed MECF and is implementing the report’s recommendation with the help of our staff. We will continue to provide this support until the contract ends in March 2017.

I would like to pay tribute to the Serco staff and the Department of Corrections who have worked tirelessly to make a success of the commissioning of Auckland South Correctional Facility, which since its opening in May 2015 has been operating to very high standards.

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