te Heuheu Georgina: Corrections (Use of Court Cells) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
te Heuheu Georgina: Corrections (Use of Court Cells) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading 
[Sitting date: 24 November 2009. Volume:659;Page:8180. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (Acting Minister of Corrections) 
: 
 I rise not necessarily to answer all the myriad issues that have been raised some of which I missed the argument on anyway but to comment on one or two things. As the members on the Opposition side know this proposal is about enabling temporary accommodation of corrections prisoners in court cells as a last resort where there is insufficient capacity in the prison system. Part of the reason I took this call was to acknowledge the Chairperson the Hon Rick Barker who of course did quite a lot of work previously in his role as the Minister for Courts to address this very issue of rising prisoner numbers and where and how to accommodate them. That is my first point and it is an important one. 
Sue Kedgley 
: Where are they going to be fed and showered? 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU 
: I tell the member I am coming to that. It is not new that we have people in these cells. It is not something new or different that we have never before catered for. As is done anyway with prisoners on remand accommodation is made to have them showered. They are taken to nearby prisons. Part of the implementation of this is that they do need to be showered and fed but those things are done anyway. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Soft on crims! 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU 
: No we are not soft on crims—not at all. But we do want to make sure that we can house the prison population properly. Issues such as how they will be housed and how they will be fed are interesting to raise but if that member thinks about it we have to do that anyway. People already use those cells just not in relation to using them as prisons. The issue about— 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: Cost? 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU 
: —no no—double-bunking and triple-bunking is I think a red herring. There is no intention for that to occur in the cells. For a minute one could let the imagination run wild with this; I do not know where triple-bunking came from and I do not know how it would arise anyway. I do not think it is worth spending much more time on. 
As I said corrections brings food into cells because the people who are locked in those cells have to be fed. Exercise will be on site if possible but more likely they will be returned to the prison for that and for showering. During the day court proceedings will take precedence and prisoners will be returned depending on whether there is enough room in the cells either to the cells or to the prison. 
The real reason I wanted to stand up was to address the issue that I believe was raised by the member Sue Kedgley regarding human rights implications. It is proper that that is raised. The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights affirm the right of every person deprived of liberty to be treated with humanity and respect. The Act and the Corrections Regulations 2005 provide for prisoners held in New Zealand prisons to be treated in a manner that complies with these international instruments and it is consistent with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. 
Among other things this legislation sets out prisoners’ minimum entitlements requires certain categories of prisoners to be separated—for example youth or unconvicted remand prisoners—and provides access to inspectors of corrections and other complaint mechanisms. All requirements of the Act and regulations will apply to prisoners who are detained in court cells and these requirements will be met. The proposal to limit the period of detention in court cells to a maximum of 4 days will assist in that regard. Depending on their implementation because everything is in the implementation the proposals in this bill appear to be consistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. We have not ignored it and I believe that goes some way to addressing the concerns raised in particular by the honourable member Sue Kedgley.