When the Government took office last November it inherited a serious capacity crisis in the corrections system.
Under-investment in the prison system over the years has seen the growth in the prisoner population outstrip available prison capacity.
The Government is developing strategies to address drivers of crime which will reduce the prison population over the long term.
However, in the meantime there is no getting away from the fact that capacity is stretched. We need to act quickly if we are to accommodate the prison population in a safe and secure manner.
This has required some quick and innovative thinking about how we can make best use of the prison capacity we currently have, and how we can quickly add more capacity in the short and medium term.
I have been impressed by the openness to new thinking from the Department.
We have reopened Wellington Prison to inject capacity into the prison system.
New construction methods have been developed which we hope will significantly reduce the costs and delivery time of new prison builds.
The most radical of these ideas is the trial of container cells to provide a new modular 60-bed prison unit at Rimutaka by early 2010.
Further down the track there may be an opportunity for prisoners to be involved in the construction of future prison cells.
Prisoners will gain skills and help pay their debt to society, our prisons will get more beds and we will be delivering better value for the taxpayers of New Zealand.
We have also had to look at maximising the use of existing capacity and infrastructure by expanding the use of double-bunking in prisons. Double-bunking will be expanded at existing prisons where the infrastructure exists to support it.
The Government has also provided $3.6 million in funding to provide personal protective equipment and extra training to preserve staff safety once double-bunking is expanded.
Managing the increasing prisoner population is a big challenge, particularly when there is very little time left before we start running out of baseline beds, and money in the public sector is severely limited. But it is a challenge we will have to meet to ensure the safety of staff and the public.
Doing nothing is simply not an option. I know I can count on you all.
Hon Judith Collins
Minister of Corrections
ISSN 1178-8453
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ISSN 1178-8453