Simon Power MP
National Party Justice & Corrections Spokesman
2 January 2008

Prisoners get TVs, Playstations worth $45,000

The Corrections Department spent more than $45,000 of taxpayers' money on the latest electronic gear for prisoners, only to then ban some of it, says National's Justice & Corrections spokesman, Simon Power.

He is releasing figures which show that Corrections bought 32 LCD TVs last year at a cost of $40,691, and eight Playstations and 58 games at a cost of $4,682.

"Taxpayers' money should not be used to buy this state-of-the-art gear.

"Prisoners don't need LCD TVs costing more than $1,000 each.

"And they certainly didn't need Playstations and games to go with them.

"It took them nearly a year to ban Playstations and games after National highlighted the issue, and I imagine that they would still be shelling out good money for these consoles had we not done that.

"Perhaps if Corrections spent more time getting prisoners into work or training or rehabilitation in preparation for release, they would be making greater inroads into the recidivism rate.

"All this seems to fit with the belief of assistant general manager Bryan McMurray who said 'people don't go to prison to be punished.'"

ATTACHMENT: Answer To Financial Review Question [PDF]

ENDS

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