Alexander Marc: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Alexander Marc: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:616;Page:11990] 
1. MARC ALEXANDER (United Future) 
 to the  
Minister of Corrections 
: Does he stand by his statement to the House on Tuesday that “this Government is putting more people in prison for longer as part of its get-tough-on-crime campaign.” if so why? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN (Minister of Corrections) 
: 
 Yes. My comments were based on the Ministry of Justice annual update of forecasts of prison population released earlier this month predicting there will be around 7400 people in jail in 2010 an increase of 20 percent. The forecasts say that the predicted increase is a reflection of legislative changes such as the Sentencing Act and the Parole Act. Other initiatives undertaken by the Government such as more police and improved resolution rates are also having an impact on prison numbers. 
Marc Alexander 
: How does the Minister reconcile his comments with those of Brian Davis national organiser of the Corrections Association of New Zealand who has stated: “to suggest that the increase is due to the tougher sentencing is a nonsense.” and is not the real reason for this high demand the fact that the Government is actually doing less to reduce crime when it has cut rehabilitative programmes like Corrections Inmate Employment? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: The second part of the answer is just not true. When it comes down to the two of them I would probably prefer to rely on the information from the Ministry of Justice. 
Martin Gallagher 
: Does the Minister have any evidence that the worst offenders are now facing longer prison sentences than they otherwise would have in the past? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: The worst offenders are now receiving the harshest sentences ever handed down. Triple murderer William Bell last year received a minimum 30-year prison term and Bruce Howse was sentenced to 25 years non-parole. This year two double murderers Joseph Samoa and William Johansson have been given minimum non parole periods of 22 and 23 years. This shows that the Government has listened to the call for tougher sentences and acted. 
Nandor Tanczos 
: When will the Government move to reduce the huge costs of incarcerating prisoners and of building and maintaining prisons by ensuring that there are enough resources for adequate rehabilitation programmes in the prisons and by developing strategies to deinstitutionalise inmates on release in order to reduce reoffending? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: Of course the Government would be looking to try to reduce the cost of prisons and taking people in and incarcerating them. Rehabilitation programmes are really important as the member points out and there are some discussions around the Budget that hopefully might show some light on these things in due course. 
Hon Tony Ryall 
: Is it a fact that despite the Minister’s claims the Department of Corrections itself is forecasting fewer sentenced inmates on average in virtually every adult inmate category this year and is it also a fact that under this Government’s legislation a rapist sentenced to 9 years in jail can qualify to apply for parole after only 3 years? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: In relation to the first question the Department of Corrections has certainly made similar predictions to what the member has said. However the Ministry of Justice is the official forecaster of figures done independently of me and I am sure the member would appreciate the fact that those figures should be done independently of the Department of Corrections and the Minister of Corrections. As far as the second question is concerned people can do a third of their sentences but the reality is that judges are now setting non-parole periods and offenders are not just being released automatically at two-thirds—unlike under that previous member’s Government. 
Ron Mark 
: How many of the people whom the Government anticipates it will imprison are people who have been released on parole—like Mr Jarden Mr Bell and Mr Carroll—and have gone on to reoffend and does he not agree that part of the problem is this Government’s rather lax attitude towards those people; and can he give the House an absolute assurance that the gentleman by the name of Abraham Neho who kicked a Mozambican refugee to death in Christchurch and has recently been released on parole having spent only 2 years in prison will not be another such person who goes on to reoffend and will have to be locked up again? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: The answers are: I am not sure no and I have not heard about that case. 
Stephen Franks 
: Can the Minister confirm that I have this right: that he is pleased that there are more people in prison locked up for longer; if so why does he not support truth in sentencing and lock up a whole lot more for a whole lot longer—in other words for the sentences the court gives them? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: I cannot say I am particularly pleased that we are locking people up longer but we certainly are because that is what people are demanding. As far as the second question is concerned we think that the Government has got it about right. 
Marc Alexander 
: How does the Minister expect the public to believe his tough talk on criminals when the increasing use of home detention contradicts the whole concept of tougher sentencing because those who would otherwise go to prison are lounging around at home to save the Government money by keeping the number of incarcerated down? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: Well it is hard to know how to answer that. As the member knows people are doing longer sentences as a result of this Government. Home detention is an effective way of not only incarcerating people at home but also reducing reoffending. It has very very good reoffending rates compared with people who have been in prison. What one needs in this particular portfolio is a balance of measures and that balance is being worked on all the time. 
Marc Alexander 
: How does the Minister reconcile his statement in the House yesterday that: “I think the Department of Corrections is doing a fabulous job in very difficult circumstances.” with the fact that in the past few weeks five Waikeria Prison officials have been stood down for physically bullying a fellow officer a second inmate has been found dead at Rimutaka Prison and Amnesty International has been asked to investigate the condition of State-run prisons and is it not about time he conceded that private prison management is doing a better job? 
Hon PAUL SWAIN 
: The answer to the first question is “easily” and to the second one the private prisons have been doing a pretty good job but it is the view of this Government that the incarceration of people should be the responsibility of the State.