17 August 2005
The Department of Corrections rejects any assertion that an alleged suicide at Auckland Central Remand Prison (ACRP) was due to the Prison's transition from private to public management.
The Department took over management of ACRP from GEO NZ Ltd, a private company, on 13 July 2005.
Public Prisons Service General Manager Phil McCarthy disputes allegations that the suicide is a reflection of poor public management.
"There were two suicides at ACRP during the five years the Prison was managed by GEO NZ Ltd, which equates to a rate of about 0.12 per 100 prisoners per year. This compares with the Public Prisons Service average rate of 0.09 across its 18 publicly managed prisons over the same period.
"Prisoner suicide is an unfortunate reality in all prison jurisdictions, in part because of the very high rate of mental illness in prisons.
"The Department has worked hard to reduce the rate of suicide in prison and, as a result, the number of prisoner suicides decreased from eight in 1998/99 to five in 2004/05.
"This is a significant achievement because average prisoner numbers increased during this time from an average of 5,329 in 1998/99 to an average of 6,865 in 2004/05. The trend in the suicide rate has decreased steadily over this time and is one of the lowest suicide rates in the developed world."
"In fact, in a year that has seen huge growth in prisoner numbers to a level that has exceeded system capacity for much of the year, suicide rates actually decreased from the previous year."