Davis KelvinCORRECTIONS AMENDMENT BILLThird ReadingHon KELVIN DAVIS (Minister of Corrections): I move That the Corrections Amendment Bill be now read a third time.Before I do that please can I take time to acknowledge the previous debate celebrating the centenary of women winning the right to stand for Parliament and I would like to acknowledge the 150 women who have served in this House who are currently serving and the many thousands who will follow in their footsteps and I thank you all for your service to the country.Moving on to the Corrections Amendment Bill we are a Government determined to address the long-term challenges facing our country. We have a goal of safely reducing the prison population by 30 percent over the next 15 years. We have a plan that ensures public safety remains the priority while delivering real rehabilitation mental health treatment and transitional services to reduce reoffending. The previous Government sat back and watched the problem grow. Their only plan was to build more American-style mega-prisons which just churn out hardened criminals and lead to escalating costs for the taxpayer with no reduction of reoffending and no social improvement. But our Government is focused on taking a smarter approach to reduce reoffending and giving people inside our prisons every opportunity to turn their lives around. We know we cannot fix everything overnight but we are getting started on it and we've made a fantastic start.Already we've made changes to the way Corrections operates by introducing Hōkai Rangi the new Corrections strategy which aims to humanise and heal people so that there is less chance that they will reoffend. We're focused on wellbeing. That's why we're providing a huge boost to mental health and addiction services for offenders which will support thousands of additional people per year. Instead of building a mega-prison at Waikeria as planned by the previous Government we're building a smaller facility alongside a 100-bed mental health unit that will be the first of its kind in New Zealand.We have safely reduced the prison population by 8 percent since March of last year where it peaked at 10820 by speeding up access to justice outcomes and targeting blockages to make the system more effective. We've invested $98 million on the creation of new Māori pathways at two prisons to be co-designed and implemented by Māori with Corrections Whānau Ora and the Ministry of Social Development working together in partnership with hapū and iwi. The Corrections Amendment Bill continues this good work by improving prison security and ensuring the fair safe and humane treatment of people in prison while upholding public safety.This bill makes business-as-usual changes to the Corrections Act and serves three important purposes: first it ensures that Te Ara Poutama Aotearoa—the Department of Corrections—has the ability to manage people in prison humanely and in line with their individual needs; second it improves the processes that enhance the safety of people in prison victims and staff; third it ensures the fair treatment of people in prison by clarifying what their obligations are while in custody.During the committee of the whole House I tabled a Supplementary Order Paper that made a number of changes to the bill. At the second reading of the bill I spoke about a number of these changes as they were suggestions made and subsequently not accepted during the select committee process. I now wish to take this opportunity to talk about changes that were made after the select committee specifically to prison mail provisions.To begin with I want to acknowledge the distress caused to those impacted by the tragic events of 15 March and the events involving mail that should have been withheld. We know from overseas experience that people in prison who hold hostile views towards particular groups may seek to communicate their views in an attempt to influence and potentially radicalise others both in prison and in the community. These individuals can also become a focal point for sympathetic individuals and groups in the community who may seek to draw attention to and to amplify their hostile views.Corrections is currently managing a significant number of people with views that might be considered extreme including around 100 people with white supremacist views. Given that and the fact that around 15000 items of mail go through our prison system every week I consider it important that the legislation regarding prison mail is as clear and as explicit as possible. Today we are one step closer to ensuring this and guaranteeing that Corrections has strengthened powers to prevent the dissemination of correspondence that revictimises those who have previously been subject to harm or attempts to radicalise or influence people and/or promotes violence or hostility against people particularly those that are vulnerable. I wish to thank members for the cooperation in supporting the Supplementary Order Paper to ensure the bill is fit for purpose.Earlier this year I announced Hōkai Rangi Ara Poutama Aotearoa's new strategy that will underpin the transformational system change required to break the intergenerational cycle of reoffending and re-imprisonment. Many provisions in the bill support this strategy and I would like to take this opportunity to mention a few examples.Removing mandatory strip-search requirements and introducing a comprehensive framework for the management and care of people vulnerable to self-harm will humanise the experience for people in prison and is indicative of Corrections' intention to treat those under its care with dignity and respect. This will mean that the most vulnerable people in prison—and we know that people in prison are four times more likely than the general population to have attempted suicide—will be treated with greater care to ensure that their time in prison does not cause further harm and re-traumatisation.The second example I want to highlight is that the bill introduces a requirement that upon reception all information provided to people in prison must be in a form that is accessible and appropriate to their ability and preferred language. This provides another opportunity to humanise the prison experience given that research indicates that people in prison tend to have a high level of educational disparity compared with the general population and that for many people in prison English is their second language. In practice this will mean that people in prison will have the option to receive information in their native language and in different forms such as written oral or visual.Finally I want to highlight the changes that are being made to improve the mothers with babies regime currently operating in prison. I consider that one of the most upsetting aspects of prison is that families particularly mothers and tamariki are separated. Under current settings only a small number of applications to place a child with its mother in prison are declined after consultation with Plunket the Ministry of Health and Oranga Tamariki. These decisions however are final. The bill gives mothers the statutory right to appeal the decision and introduces a review process. Corrections will also be required to tell mothers the reasons why an application to have a child placed in their custody has been declined and the process available to have a decision reconsidered. In practice this will mean that mothers in prison as well as their whānau will have a greater understanding of the opportunities available to have decisions about placement of tamariki reconsidered.The changes this bill makes to the legislative framework of the corrections system will improve prison discipline and security and will ensure the fair safe and humane treatment of people in prison. I commend this bill to the House.