Lole-Taylor Asenati: Corrections Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Lole-Taylor Asenati: Corrections Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Sitting date: 12 February 2013. Volume:687;Page:7748. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Le’aufa’amulia ASENATI LOLE-TAYLOR (NZ First) 
: 
 I believe that everyone in this House would agree when I say that this country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in. The Corrections Amendment Bill is one of the few bills being introduced in this House that could provide improvement to the way our prisons operate and are managed. New Zealand First supports the removal of barriers to managing prisoners in a manner that is safe that is secure that is humane and that is effective and efficient. We believe that the intention of this bill is to fix up many of the loopholes we have within the current Corrections Act and regulations. 
It is our prerogative as members of Parliament to protect and secure the safety of our communities. It is our prerogative as parliamentarians to protect and ensure the safety of our communities—it is important. It is also our prerogative to ensure that the rules we put in place will work. Why? It is because there is a need for real commitment to a safe and humane approach to the containment of prisoners. There is no question about the commitment that New Zealand First has in this area—absolutely no question. We are honoured to have the support of those dedicated men and women who provide security and public safety for our country. 
Since the introduction of the smoking ban in prisons cigarette smoking has not ceased. Rather the ban has now created a black market for tobacco within our prisons. High demand has inflated the price of tobacco to many times its normal price. The smuggling of tobacco is easy money for some prisoners and will provide a smokescreen for illicit drugs. There are obvious economic rewards for prisoners who successfully smuggle tobacco into prisons. This has also put pressure on prison visitors and on prison staff in terms of smuggling tobacco into prisons. Nobody—and I say nobody—is going to receive extra jail time for smuggling tobacco on its own. It is easy money. 
With assaults on corrections officers trebling in the last 5 years we see a further increase in tobacco-related incidents. Prisoners in the Release to Work programme are free to smoke while they are at work. There is no current legislation that will stop them from doing that. What this Government needs to do is work on a comprehensive and ongoing stopping smoking education programme for all prisoners. After all it is an unreasonable attempt that comes with unfair implications. 
I want to talk about private providers and contractors. The policy of using private firms and contractors for the purpose of operating prisons and prison services is one that New Zealand First will continue to strongly oppose. The incarceration of prisoners should remain the sole preserve of the State. In the past year—if I could say this to Mark Mitchell—Serco has failed our communities and our law enforcement officers and staff on numerous occasions and one must be working in the environment to know that. This is an unacceptable reality. It is unacceptable. The Government seems to be bemused by it all. The Government is bemused by it all and has a slap on the hand approach to multiple compliance failures including failures on performance targets. Serco paying a fine and taking a no lessons learnt approach for escaped prisoners is just not good enough. 
As for property claims New Zealand First supports clear processes in the area of lost or stolen property of prisoners. It has been established that thousands of dollars have been wasted on the processing of such claims. Clear guidelines that will transfer liability to prisoners making it his or her own responsibility to manage personal property must be laid down in order to define accountability. This will alleviate the time spent on investigating spurious claims. Currently the time taken up by these deters our officers from focusing primarily on safety and security in our prisons. 
The old penal institutions legislation of 1954 gave power to a visiting justice or adjudicator of corrections to impose certain punishments and penalties which included a loss of remission on any sentence. In 2004 that legislation was replaced by a Corrections Act amendment and they failed to include this in the amended version in 2005. That was a situation that should have been addressed. The clause needs to be reinstated. It worked when in place and would come into effect in cases where prisoners have threatened or assaulted corrections officers. 
I have spoken before on the importance of suitable training programmes for corrections officers in order to facilitate better enforcement. Pepper spray is locked up or is not readily accessible when needed. That is like having a fire alarm or a smoke detector with no batteries. It may look efficient but it will not do a damn thing when it is bound up with red tape. One-off training of corrections officers to manage difficult and often psychotic prisoners is tokenism a complete waste of taxpayers’ money and leaves no assurance for corrections officers and staff that they will be safe in confrontational situations with dangerous prisoners. 
The issue of prisoners introducing a shy bladder medical condition as a defence when they want to avoid drug testing by giving the impression that they are unable to produce a sample must also be addressed. Too many prisoners are successfully using this defence after being charged. 
Rehabilitation and reintegration is an area I am very familiar with. I would like to commend the Government for its plundering of my member’s bill in making prisoners work while behind bars. I suppose I should be thankful that New Zealand First policies are being recognised. Although we acknowledge that prisoners should be paid for the work they do in no way should they retain all their earnings. It would be advisable that one-third of their earnings go to the victims of their crimes and one-third go to the State. At the moment I think they pay some kind of board fee when they are working outside the prison and being paid for it to pay towards their expenses. New Zealand First believes that they are sensible measures to take. Prisoners would be allowed to keep the remaining third of their income. This would assist in their reintegration needs upon their release. 
Let us come to ethnic groups in prisons. The bill’s current amendments do not cater for ethnic groups with a high prison population—that is Maori and Pacific peoples. There is a need for suitable rehabilitation programmes that focus on these groups. We need to make use of trained local community service providers rather than overseas private providers in order to achieve the successful reintegration of prisoners back into their communities. At the same time assessments should be carried out of these providers as well as the Maori focus units the Vaka Fa’aola Pacific Focus Unit and the Whare Oranga Ake. It is important to note though that the Department of Corrections has been relying on a programme with 10 participants at a time Saili Matagi for Pasifika prisoners as the only initiative in improving the rehabilitation of the second-highest ethnic group of the prison population. It is time to bring back Pasifika Legend Story Telling and the Polynesian journey or the Malaga Polynesia which were very very successful in the last 5 years. 
Lastly I turn to staff training. Staff training programmes must include cultural perspectives in order that staff may understand and deal with the major ethnic populations in our prisons. New Zealand First recognises that this bill will address some loopholes we have in the current Corrections Act of 2004. However we have a Supplementary Order Paper coming forward because I believe that the introduction of the smoking ban is unreasonable and that other areas I have mentioned earlier need to be reviewed and incorporated into the bill. Thank you.