Corrections chief sacking 'not justified'

The Corrections Department has improved its parole management operations and dismissal of its chief executive would not be justified, a State Services Commission (SSC) report has concluded.

Corrections Minister Judith Collins called for the report after the Auditor-General Kevin Brady highlighted problems with parole.

She has refused to express confidence in Corrections chief executive Barry Matthews and is expected to respond to the report's findings this afternoon.

Mr Brady looked at 100 parole cases, including 52 high risk offenders, and found that in most cases correct procedures were not followed.

The SSC report said the department was actively addressing issues around non-compliance with departmental procedures.

Following Graeme Burton's murder of Karl Kuchenbecker early in 2007, compliance with parole management procedures had lifted from 60 percent in November 2007 to 80 percent in December 2008.

While it fell below the department's internal standard of 85 percent, it was a significant improvement at a time when the number of offenders on parole had increased.

However, the report said the department could have moved earlier in 2008 to manage potential risk to public safety as a consequence of the much larger number of offenders on community-based sentences.

While the department had not got the full level of funding it sought in the 2008 budget, it could have moved earlier to prioritise its effort around minimising risk to the public.

The report said the levels of compliance were still below what the department and Auditor-General desired, but the level of improvement meant the sacking of Mr Matthews would not be justified.

The same applied to the department's Community Probation and Psychological Services (CPPS) manager Katrina Casey, who was accountable to Mr Matthews.

The SSC report said while the need to address public safety through tight management of offenders should have been made with more urgency, it also noted difficulties faced by Corrections.

It noted that when the new community-based sentences came into force in October 2007, new probation officers had to be trained.

At the end of the 2007/2008 year there had been an increase above forecast in the number of offenders commencing such sentences, and at that time about half of the probation officers and managers had less than two years' experience.

A compliance review carried out by CPPS last year showed parole management lapses generally involved those who were deemed by staff to be less critical for public safety.

The SSC report also addressed the issue of a waning public confidence in the Corrections Department.

It said lessons had been learned in the wake of the high-profile deaths of Mr Kuchenbecker, Liam Ashley and Debbie Ashton, however, those lessons were not necessarily apparent to the public.

Those responsible for the deaths of Mr Kuchenbecker and Ms Ashton were on parole at the time, while 17-year-old Ashley was murdered while in the back of a prison van with an older prisoner.

The report said the department must succeed in bringing public confidence to the sector.

It also said there was a requirement for all department heads to work closely with ministers and to demonstrate a high level of performance in delivering on ministers' priorities.

-NZPA