Jones Dail: Corrections Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee Procedure 
Jones Dail: Corrections Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee Procedure 
[Volume:617;Page:13008] 
DAIL JONES (NZ First) 
: 
 This issue seems to have taken on a life of its own. I too will make the point that clause 71(1) says: “Every prisoner must be provided with a separate bed”. Well do they share the beds today? What sort of bed do they have now if in the future they must have a separate bed? Is it to be a double bed queen-sized or king-sized? There is no definition of the size of the bed. It really is getting nonsensical. 
And these dear prisoners must have “sufficient bedding for warmth health and reasonable comfort.” That is sweet. We do not want them to feel cold unhealthy or uncomfortable while they are in prison. It would be a great shame if they were treated in the same way as they treated their victims—even marginally so. Then of course what must they eat? Mr Power has mentioned the diet. Clause 72 (1) states: “Every prisoner must be provided with a sufficient quantity of wholesome food and drink …”. That must have been a Green Party amendment surely. Is it organic food? 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: No GM. 
DAIL JONES 
: No GM food and surely it must be organically grown or it would not be wholesome. I can see prisoners saying: “This food is not wholesome. It’s not organic. It is possibly GE.” The food must also be nutritional according to “guidelines for the time being issued by the Ministry of Health”. Well if I were a prisoner I would be checking out what guidelines had been issued by the Ministry of Health. If the food did not comply— 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: They will let them out. 
DAIL JONES 
: Yes. Clause 72(3) states: “A medical officer may prescribe a particular diet for a particular prisoner.” That is nice too. I can see all the prisoners lining up to explain that they are on a fish diet and will have only the best fish. They will say they can cope with orange roughy only. This legislation is nonsensical. These provisions were in regulations and that is where they should stay. Parliament should not have been bothered with them. What is this Government getting up to by wasting Parliament’s time with such ridiculous legislation which now—because it is legislation—can be changed only by an Act of Parliament? In the past changes could have been done by regulation. These provisions will be litigated by prisoners. 
My main concern is this: what do the Labour Party’s Maori members of Parliament think about the views of say Tariana Turia on the retention of the private prison in Auckland? She has come out in support of retention of the private prison in Auckland and I presume that there are many other Labour members of Parliament of various extractions who support the continuation of that prison. Why must the Labour Party be so ideologically hidebound on the issue? New Zealand First members went there ourselves and had a look at it last year in about July. Eight MPs including the leader of New Zealand First went to the Auckland Central Remand Prison and had a look at the new facility for ourselves. 
Simon Power 
: Who didn’t go? 
DAIL JONES 
: Someone may have been away but there were eight there which is almost three-quarters of our caucus. I wonder whether three-quarters of other parties’ caucuses went. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: So how were your party members? 
DAIL JONES 
: Well I can tell members of the House that it was quite shocking for some of our members of Parliament. I think it is shocking for any member of Parliament to go to a prison and see young men being locked up in the prime of their lives. It is quite a shock. I have been to many prisons over many years as a lawyer visiting prisoners and as a member of Parliament and one gets a bit immune to it after a while. But the New Zealand First MPs who had not been to a prison before were absolutely shocked at what they saw—young men in the prime of their lives wasting their time away in a prison. We also went to Paremoremo prison and had a look at three prison blocks there. I will not go further into who was there but that was quite shocking also. 
The point is that if Tariana Turia can now that she is no longer a member of Parliament say that she supports the continuation of the private prison and will raise it in her by-election if there is one—