June 15, 2022
Better reporting boosts prison assault stats
Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says a jump in the number of assaults of prison officers is because all incidents are now reported.
He says on a recent visit to Waikeria Prison an officer told him under National if they were assaulted they were encouraged to just suck it up.
When he became Minister he asked for records to be kept of every nudge, push, bump, shove or spit.
“That means the number of assaults does rise on paper, What the National Government did was try to keep that under cover, so there was a lot of that sort of stuff that wasn’t reported” Mr Davis says.
He says there has been a rise in serious assaults, which is why Budget 2022 is investing $50 million a year in the safety of frontline officers.