September 27, 2022
Davis defends Arohata shifts
Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says lawyers fighting the shift of wahine from Wellington’s Arohata Prison in Wellington have got the wrong end of the stick.
Amanda Hill, who failed last week in a bid to get an injunction on behalf of eight inmates, argued they were being moved away from whanau and rehabilitation courses.
Mr Davis says people jump to the worst conclusions about anything Corrections does, but the move is necessary to restore some of the services and visiting rights that are not possible under current staffing levels.
“They’re not all from the Wellington region so people are jumping up and down, ‘oh it’s terrible they’re being moved away form their whanau.’ Actually the reality is some are being moved closer to whanau. The other thing is they are being moved where there are programmes they can participate in which may see them getting paroled earlier and released to their whanau earlier,” he says.
Mr Davis says Corrections is advertising for new staff to make up the shortfall.