Hon Judith Collins
Minister of Corrections
3 March 2009 Media Release

Forgotten by Labour, crime bill finally passes into law

A bill that is expected to deal a major blow to prisoners who run criminal businesses from behind bars has been passed into law after languishing under the previous government.

The Corrections Amendment Bill amends the Corrections Act 2004 to create new search, detection, drug-testing and offence provisions to help control contraband in prisons.

“This amendment make it more difficult for people to smuggle prohibited items into prisons and easier for prison staff to detect them,” Corrections Minister Judith Collins says.

“It will deal a major blow to criminals who have been able to continue running their crime businesses from behind bars, and who have used smuggled cellphones to intimidate people on the outside.”

The amendment will increase controls over prisoners’ communications with the outside world and their ability to commit crime from inside prison. It enables mail to be screened and introduces zero tolerance to staff that pass contraband to prisoners.

“The failure of the previous Government to pass the bill was another example of how Labour mismanaged the Corrections sector,” Ms Collins says.

“The passage of this Bill is long overdue. The previous government promised to clamp down on contraband but, like so many other law and order bills, it allowed this Bill to languish on the order paper for months.

“Their failure to make it law put the safety of prison staff and the public at risk.”

Improved access to drug and alcohol rehabilitation programmes are a key part of the Government’s efforts to reduce reoffending. The bill will make these programmes more effective by reducing prisoners’ access to illegal drugs, Ms Collins says.

ENDS

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