August 22, 2016
Tide turns against private prisons
Labour’s corrections spokesperson is calling on the government to follow the lead of United States and scrap its use of private prisons.
The US Justice Department last week indicated it will not renew contracts with providers when they expire, leading to a collapse in the share prices of prison operators.
The decision came after a major report found higher rates of violence and other problems at the private prisons.
Mr Davis says private prisons have a glaring flaw in a system which should be focused on rehabilitation and community safety.
"It’s counterintuitive that private prisons, and especially a coompany like Serco which is all about making money, would ever want to reduce the prison population. It's one of those situations, a bit like the war industry, there's money to be made from human misery. In a peaceful nation like New Zealand, the biggest misery is in prisons," he says.
Mr Davis says the Corrections Department should become more open to innovation in prisons and look for ways to bring prisoner numbers down.
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