British High Commissioner
George Fergusson.
The British High Commissioner George Fergusson had nothing but praise for the way Corrections has handled the situation on Pitcairn Island when he met with Department representatives.
Mr Fergusson visited Christchurch Prison to express his gratitude to the Department as a whole and to the Corrections officers who have spent time carrying out custodial duties at the prison on Pitcairn Island.
“He was very impressed with the calibre of the officers and the preparedness of the Department to work in this challenging situation,” says Southern Regional Manager Paul Monk.
“He certainly gave me an increased appreciation of the complexity of the role for our staff.”
Corrections has sent two deployments of seven officers to staff the Pitcairn Prison. The third, and current, deployment will be relieved in August 2007.
Manager National Facilities Development Paul Holohan says the current Superintendent of HMP Pitcairn, Zac Peacock, and his team have settled in to Island life and prison operations are proceeding well.
“Of course, they’re missing families and friends, but they get 30 minutes of free phone calls a week and have email to help them stay in touch,” says Paul.
New Zealand Corrections officers who volunteer for work on Pitcairn Island go on leave without pay and sign an individual employment agreement with the British High Commission so that they are employed by the British Government.
Unit Manager Dave Kerr, who did a tour of duty on Pitcairn Island, says it was hard being away from his family for five months.
“I thought the hardest thing would be getting the Islanders to accept us, but that wasn’t the case. The calibre of my team was such that they were very quickly able to show the Islanders they were not a threat.”
Dave says he and his team had to have a sense of adventure, as it takes six days to get to the isolated island, which is similar in size to Kapiti Island.
“I’d recommend the experience to any Corrections officer who wants to do something different. The officers on my team came from all regions and all walks of life and every one of them had a growing experience.”
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