Another private prison bidder damned

A damning official report on the first privately-managed prison in England further undermines National’s ideological commitment to building a private prison in New Zealand, says Labour Law and Order spokesperson Clayton Cosgrove.

Clayton Cosgrove said the report by UK Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers into HMP Wolds presented a sorry picture of G4S, one of four firms bidding to run the Mt Eden-Auckland Central Remand Prison.

“Corrections Minister Judith Collins is on increasingly shaky ground in leading the Government’s reckless campaign to build private prisons despite evidence that they don’t perform better than publicly-run prisons, and that the reverse is, in fact, often the case,” Clayton Cosgrove said.

“The Owers investigation into HMP Wold found prisoners high on drugs, a failure to deal with violent incidents, prison officers who were low on confidence, and problems with suicide prevention. “This is the very sort of situation, we don’t want occurring in New Zealand, but Judith Collins so far won’t hear a bar of criticism of private management. Her mantra is --- if it’s private, it must be better.”

Clayton Cosgrove said it would not be so worrying if G4S was the only private provider wanting to set up shop in New Zealand that had problems. “But that’s not the case. Another short-listed company, Kalyx, has also been damned for its management of the Harmondsworth Detention Centre and HM Addiewell Prison in Scotland.

“G4S has had many problems in Australia too, while another bidder, GEO, has been involved in controversy in the United States,” Clayton Cosgrove said.

“In perhaps the biggest irony, the fourth contender, Serco, has a contract in Australia that permits it an annual quota of incidents before it risks a penalty.

“Even if cost efficiency was the only criteria, the only precedent here is a real concern. Corrections has said that it cost more per inmate ($43,000) for an Australian company to run Auckland Remand Prison from 2000 to 2005 than the department’s own operating costs for remand prisoners of $36,000 per inmate.

“Goodness knows, our Corrections Department isn’t perfect, but at least we can demand accountability from it. National seems set on a path that will make life more dangerous for prison officers, do nothing for recidivism rates, lead to greater drug use, and almost inevitably cost more as well.”

ENDS

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