September 12, 2016
Overseas guard recruitment poor choice
Labour's corrections spokesperson Kelvin Davis says going overseas to source prison guards is stupid.
The Corrections Department has permission to recruit 100 people from the UK with custodial, security, defence or police backgrounds.
It's trying to fill 600 positions over the next year to deal with the increasing number of inmates created by changes in remand and sentencing policies.
"We've got over 100,000 people unemployed, and they are going overseas to recruit people who have no understanding of our people or our culture. It's just stupid, it's dumb, and I don 't know where the Government gets off on making these really bad decisions. There's plenty of folk in New Zealand looking for a job," Mr Davis says.
Rather than locking more people up, the government should look for ways to reduce inmate numbers, such as raising the youth justice age.
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