Legislation to allow private companies to manage prisons has been introduced to Parliament.

The Corrections (Contract Management of Prisons) Amendment Bill will allow private companies to tender for prison management contracts on a ‘case-by-case’ basis.
 
The Bill amends the Corrections Act 2004, and should be read alongside the purpose and principles set out by the Act.

Offenders will remain in the legal custody of the Chief Executive at all times and he is ultimately accountable for everything that happens to prisoners during their incarceration. Public safety and safe, secure and humane containment must remain the paramount considerations in all decisions about offender management.

Key features of the Bill include:

• Contractors must comply with a number of statutory requirements governing the provision of programmes to prisoners, compliance with New Zealand’s international human rights obligations and comprehensive reporting requirements.
   
• The Bill protects the Government Superannuation Fund entitlements of staff who transfer their employment to a contract prison manager.
   
• The Bill creates the role of prison monitors who are resident at the contract prison and oversee its compliance with the terms of the contract. Monitors must have unlimited access to all prisoners, all parts of the prison and all staff at all times in order to undertake their role.

Prisons run by contract managers will need to abide by the Corrections Act and the other laws of New Zealand, including the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990.

Prison inspectors will still have the same powers to visit privately run prisons, and prison officers must comply with the same strict guidelines applied in publicly managed prisons if they have to search or physically restrain a prisoner.

The Bill is expected to become law later in the year. A number of implementation decisions including which prison to put up for tender have yet to be made.

---

Got a story for Corrections News or want to request the print edition?
Email commdesk@corrections.govt.nz or phone (04) 460 3365.

ISSN 1178-8453

Previous Next Show Contents