Open Letter: Minister for Corrections From No to Serco

Dear Minister Collins,

No To Serco wish to both congratulate you on your appointment and welcome you back as Minister for Corrections. You should be relatively familiar with the major issues at present, stemming as they do from decisions you made when you were last in the role.

We hope that during your time out of Cabinet you have kept up with the news regarding Mt Eden Corrections Facility (MECF), Serco’s management of it and questions that have yet to be answered.

In your comments so far to the press you have said that you are waiting to ascertain the facts and that Serco need to front up. We agree, and would be delighted if you could provide the facts contained within the two Inspectors reports into MECF; part one was due on October 30th and part two on November 30th. At present Serco are challenging the first report on the basis that they have not had adequate response time.

It would probably be appropriate to warn you that Serco’s track record does not involve fronting up or admission of mistakes. Instead all of their numerous failures overseas, and the current situation in New Zealand, have resulted from leaked information or whistleblowing. Even when meeting with your predecessor, Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga, Serco failed to disclose further incidents which had occurred in MECF.

Currently the first stage of the path towards termination of contract with Serco is active, that of the ‘Step In’ clause. The ‘Step In’ has put a strain on the staffing of other Corrections facilities in New Zealand and we hope that this situation can be permanently remedied in the near future.

At No To Serco we will be maintaining a close scrutiny of the actions of Corrections and you as Minister. We believe, in line with public opinion, that the contract which Serco hold has allowed them to profit while providing a sub-standard service, compounded by their manipulation of data reported to previous Ministers for Corrections, including yourself.

We look forward to the publication of the reports, a full and extensive review of the original contract and a detailed consideration of the clauses regarding termination in the light of the reported evidence.

Regards,

No To Serco Aotearoa

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