Dean Jacqui: Corrections Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Dean Jacqui: Corrections Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 28 February 2012. Volume:677;Page:620. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
JACQUI DEAN (National—Waitaki) 
: 
 Thank you— 
Chris Hipkins 
: This’ll be good! 
JACQUI DEAN 
: This will be good because I will start off with the context of the Corrections Amendment Bill. The context of it is that since National came into Government prison performance is improving. I think that is something that is to the credit of the previous Minister of Corrections Judith Collins and now following on very strongly with the current Minister Anne Tolley who is the Minister in charge of this bill.  
I think it is worth perhaps rehearsing that public confidence in the corrections system—that is how the people our people feel about the corrections system—is 53 percent higher than it was under the Labour Government. Public perception of how the corrections system is performing has increased by 53 percent. It is also worth noting that positive random drug-tests of prisoners are at their lowest. Again that is under the stewardship of a National Government.  
Interestingly also because prisons under this Government are not just about punishment but about turning prisoners’ lives round and providing them with opportunities for when they get back into society it is really heartening to see that prisoners achieved 108000 New Zealand Qualification Authority credits in literacy and numeracy in the year 2010-11. That is fantastic news and that is the kind of work that the National Government is doing for our prison population in New Zealand.  
Furthermore prisoner escapes are at their lowest ever. That is a figure that is a reflection of the high regard that successive Ministers under the National Government have held corrections staff. It has made a difference. This Government backs corrections staff and it is making a difference in how they perform their duties. They feel valued and their work is being reflected in these statistics.  
This bill is intended to reduce some of those barriers to effectiveness and also to efficiency in prisons. The previous speaker Charles Chauvel made a couple of points and I just want to perhaps have a look at some of those issues that were raised by the previous Labour speaker. The first one is about new section 19A on health centre managers—if that member has looked at the bill yet. What it says is that for every prison the chief executive must appoint under the State Sector Act a health centre manager. In practice that health centre manager will be a registered medical practitioner or a nurse. I am guessing that mostly it will be a nurse.  
When I visited Milton prison perhaps 18 months ago I met with that nurse because I was interested in the treatment of a particular prisoner. It was very interesting to go into that unit at Milton prison to see that that nurse had an ongoing relationship with not only the prisoner I was interested in but also the general prison population. I think this new section strengthens the standing of the health centre manager within our prison service. I see that as a good thing.  
The other thing if the member cares to have a look at new section 20 on prison officers is that for every prison there must be a sufficient number of medical officers to meet prisoners’ needs for medical care and medical treatment and that of course each medical officer must be a medical practitioner. In the case of the prisoner whom I was approached by and whom I was interested in what happened was that there was an episode of abdominal pain lasting over a couple of days. That prisoner was checked on by the medical staff on a regular basis taken into the health centre and then when it was judged that maybe it was appendicitis that prisoner was taken off and put into the hands of the district health board. It had a happy ending: the prisoner was well cared for and he was secure at all times. I happen to think that the provisions in this bill will not only strengthen that procedure but also make it a whole lot easier both for the prisoner and for the prison staff.  
I also want that member on the other side of the House to have a look at clause 25 regarding the restraint of prisoners. If that member had read that clause carefully he probably would have seen that there are a number of safeguards written into this bill. In fact they will improve the safeguards on behalf of the prisoner not just on behalf of the prison service. They will actually safeguard the interests of the prisoner.  
So what it says for the benefit of the members opposite who probably have not looked at this clause is: “A prison manager may authorise the use of a mechanical restraint on a prisoner for more than 24 hours only if in the opinion of a medical officer”—and I think that is the key point in here; the opinion of a medical officer—“continued restraint is necessary to protect the prisoner from self-harm.” This is not a punitive clause; this is to protect a prisoner from self-harm.  
I had to think about this a little bit because I heard the objection coming across from the other side of the House. I had to think: “Where is the problem?”. I do not see the problem because I think this is a clause that is there to protect prisoners from self-harm.  
I think you have to recall what happened previously. Previously under the current Act in those circumstances the prison manager had to go outside the prison to a justice. The decision about whether a prisoner was mechanically restrained was a legal decision and now under this bill the decision will be a medical decision. To me that is quite smart thinking.  
The next thing you may well be thinking about is where the safeguards are. Well the safeguards are still in clause 25 but if you have a look at new section 87(5A) you will see those safeguards are that an authorisation by the medical officer needs to “(a) be in writing; and (b) specify the type of restraint to be used; and (c) specify the time during which the prisoner is to be kept under restraint; and (d) include a record of the medical officer’s opinion that the restraint is necessary to protect the prisoner from self-harm.”  
So yes let us have a look at these two clauses in the select committee process let us call for submissions on these two and many other clauses in this bill and let us have a good look at them. But on the surface of it and on the first reading of it—and I will be giving this due consideration as will we all in the Law and Order Committee and as will my colleagues from throughout the House—I think that perhaps the member’s misgivings are a little bit unfounded.  
I want to move to one of the clauses in the bill with regard to strip-searches. We all know that contraband and drugs are a problem in prison albeit that under this National Government that problem is— 
Hon Anne Tolley 
: Much less. 
JACQUI DEAN 
: —much less and we are getting it under control but it too is addressed in this legislation. I will have to flick through the bill because I am relatively new to it myself but strip-searches—[ 
Interruption 
]—gosh is that really 8 minutes?—are defined in clause 26 in the bill. 
Chris Hipkins 
: Feels like longer. 
JACQUI DEAN 
: You want more? 
Hon Members 
: No! 
JACQUI DEAN 
: Oh yes you do. The members do I beg your pardon.  
The previous speaker referred to the regulatory impact statement. I think it is worth having a look on page 4 and noting that “the legislation will continue to require that the details of ‘reasonable grounds’ strip searches must be promptly reported to the prison manager … who must ensure that a record of that report is made and kept …”.  
So they are pertinent questions to be raised in this House by other members and I can assure the House and the Minister that the Law and Order Committee will give these and all the other issues contained in this bill serious consideration. I commend the bill to the House.