National's prison policy ridiculed

National's "lock 'em up and throw away the key" policy has been greeted with ridicule by people working in the sector, who say it is unnecessary, would be expensive, and would create havoc in prisons.

National says the "two strikes" plan, which denies parole to anyone convicted of two violent offences, would put an extra 572 offenders in prison over the next three years and would require a new prison to be built at a cost of $314 million, plus $43 million a year to keep them there.

Given that most offences are committed by criminals aged between 20 and 40, it is likely that inmate numbers would continue to rise at this rate, particularly with a steady diet, a reduction in drug use, and a safer environment raising prisoners' life expectancy.

Justice Minister Phil Goff said the policy would make no difference to serious offenders such as William Bell and Graeme Burton, whom he believed would not be released till they were too old to be a risk.

"We've covered those cases that worry people most of all. What the National Party is proposing to do is to expend money on people that the Parole Board deems not likely to be a significant risk to public safety."

Mr Goff said he had not had time to do the sums, but the cost of National's policy would be much higher than the party estimated. Four prisons built in the past five years had cost $1 billion.

Corrections Association president Beven Hanlon, who represents prison guards, said the policy would make prisons unmanageably violent because inmates would no longer have the possibility of release.

"As soon as you take that glimmer of hope away, what else can you do to them? You create animals."

Kris Gledhill, of Auckland University's law faculty, said the policy seemed to target a group of people unlikely to be released anyway.

Any concerns about the rigour of the parole process should be dealt with by training the Parole Board and ensuring it had enough information in front of it.

Keeping prisoners in jail when they were old and infirm was unnecessary, hugely costly, and inhumane. "It's just not right."

- © Fairfax NZ News

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Craig A. Wills   #1   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

The Expensive Parasite and his Tory sycophants are indulging in populous nonsense with their law and order policy. There is no solution in it regarding regarding the root causes of criminality. It is just fluster and bluster from a party who is full of hot air and lacks any innovative ideas. 'Choose A Bright Future. Vote National.' Yeah, right.

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