Power Simon: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Power Simon: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:648;Page:17243] 
6.  
SIMON POWER (National—Rangitikei) 
 to the  
Minister of Corrections 
: Does he have confidence in his department; if so why? 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Acting Minister of Corrections): 
 In general yes; because in the last 10 years serious assaults on staff have fallen by 90 percent the escape rate has fallen by 78 percent positive random drug tests have fallen from 30 percent in 1998 to 14 percent and more prisoners are employed in work or training. 
Simon Power 
: Can the Minister confirm that last June the former Minister announced that the use of waist restraints would be the default for prisoners being transported following the death of Liam Ashley at the hands of George Baker in the back of a prison van in 2006; if so why was a waist restraint not applied to Baker while he was being transported recently when he was reportedly able to stab a guard with a makeshift knife and when he was the very offender that caused the restraints to be introduced in the first place? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: Waist restraints have been implemented in all New Zealand prisons since May. Prisoner Baker was returning from hospital following treatment for a serious arm injury. He could not wear a waist restraint because it required both wrists to be handcuffed. A doctor recommended that he be exempt from using a waist restraint for medical reasons. Staff used standard policy in handcuffing Baker to an officer in the prison van for the return journey. Three other officers were involved in the escort of Baker and Baker was the only prisoner in the van. There are three exemptions to the waist restraint: if a person is pregnant if a person has a medical exemption or if a person is the only prisoner in the compartment. 
Simon Power 
: Does the Minister stand by the statement of the former Minister who did not tender his resignation over Liam Ashley’s death because: “I have a clear responsibility to oversee changes to the Correction’s system to prevent such a tragedy from occurring ever again in the future.”; and how does Labour’s standard of ministerial responsibility stack up now that waist restraints have been introduced but failed to be used properly including on at least six occasions when inmates have slipped out of them in transit? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: In the case that the member has raised today—that of prisoner Baker—the procedures which provide for a medical exemption and for him to be the only prisoner in the van were correctly followed as I have outlined them. So the proper procedures were carried out. In relation to waist restraints and prisoners slipping out of them six occasions out of 20000 prisoner movements have occurred when prisoners have slipped out of their restraints. These instances were caused by incorrect application of the restraint on the prisoners not on any failure of the equipment. Those staff required further training and that has been carried out. 
Simon Power 
: Is the Minister’s department’s failure to make proper use of waist restraints not just another example of the poor culture that exists in Corrections regarding prisoner transportation—beginning with these documents a year before Liam Ashley’s death which show that the department was warned three times about issues like a prisoner’s inability to communicate with staff in vans in a medical emergency or assault but on that occasion those concerns went unanswered? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: No. In fact two important points that I made in my primary answer were that serious assaults on staff have fallen by 90 percent and the escape rate has fallen by 78 percent. Rather than saying that the Department of Corrections has deteriorated its staff are making great efforts to improve their performance. I commend them for that but there always needs to be improvement in operations. But let us never forget that these officers deal with the most unpleasant people in our society who are by their very nature—because they are in prison—people who we would regard as difficult problems and as being dangerous. 
Simon Power 
: Why should the public have confidence in the Minister’s department when it lost a 30-page file containing details of high-risk inmates on an Auckland street and no one noticed it was missing until the media got hold of it; and can he confirm reports that six of those offenders are now claiming compensation for “distress and humiliation” adding to the $118000 that has already been paid out under Labour’s law that was supposed to stop those payouts? 
Hon ANNETTE KING 
: Clearly the loss of documents is not acceptable and the department is taking steps to deal with it.