Collins Judith: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Collins Judith: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:656;Page:5618] 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Corrections) 
: 
 It gives me great pleasure to rise and speak to the estimates for Vote Corrections. The Department of Corrections has had a remarkable turn-round this year. It is with great pleasure that I say that it is partly because we have given the department good direction and also because we have listened to the department and to the Auditor-General when a plea was made to properly fund the department. 
A total of $385.4 million has been allocated to enable the Department of Corrections to cope with a rising prison population over the next 4 years. I was absolutely appalled to find out that the previous Government had received a request from the department in September last year for particularly urgent funding in relation to the Community Probation and Psychological Services and that the request did not even elicit a reply from the then Minister of Corrections the Hon Phil Goff. I was also appalled to find that in fact the department had previously put forward estimates as to the rising prison population and that they had not been accepted by the previous Minister Phil Goff—obviously because it showed that we needed to have more prison beds. That is the emergency situation that we are now facing in the corrections system. 
A key component of the funding is $145.8 million in capital funding over the next 2 years to increase double-bunking at the new facilities of Northland Region Corrections Facility Auckland Region Women’s Corrections Facility Spring Hill Corrections Facility Otago Region Corrections Facility and the new prison under construction at Mount Eden. We are putting double-bunking into these new prisons because they have a huge amount of infrastructure and these are the same ones as at Spring Hill that cost $343000 a bed when built under the previous administration. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: How much are the containers going to cost? 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: The member who has just resumed his seat asks how much the containers will cost. If he listened when we told him he would know it is $53000 to $63000 per bed. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: Why can’t your officials tell us? 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: The officials have said that Mr Cosgrove. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: No they haven’t. 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS 
: They actually have. Some $24 million in capital funding over the next 2 years has been allocated to enable the department to progress work on a range of options to increase capacity in the upper North Island. That includes the possibility of building a new prison at Wiri which I announced recently. It also includes increasing the capacity of some existing sites. 
Much has been made of double-bunking. Well earlier this year the Corrections Association of New Zealand came to see me and it offered to put in place a plan for double-bunking. I thought that was a great thing for it to do. I accepted that offer and I am still waiting for the details. I see that recently the association has made it very plain that the safety issues it raised have been dealt with. The Department of Corrections is very much committed to doing that. Unfortunately it has to do it because it was not left with enough beds. A further $218.6 million in operating funding over 4 years provides the department with funding for the day-to-day management of a higher number of prisoners. That funding will be used to employ extra staff and to provide programmes and services to prisoners. Most of the funds will be used to employ more front-line prison staff so that prisoner to staff ratios remain unchanged. 
In terms of rehabilitation this Government has moved to give substance to its election promise to address the drug and alcohol problems facing so many of our prisoners. We are doubling the number of drug and alcohol places available to prisoners up from the measly 500 under the last 9 years of the previous Labour Government to 1000—and we would like to do more. Just a few weeks ago at the Arohata Women’s Prison drug treatment unit I launched the Department of Correction’s 2009-14 drug and alcohol strategy. Included in the strategy is the opening of three new prison-based drug and alcohol units doubling the number of prisoners able to receive intensive treatment. A total of $3.9 million has been allocated for capital expenditure and $7.2 million has been allocated to meet the operating costs of three new units over the next 4 years. 
Equally important is the issue raised by Ms Goudie in relation to Community Probation and Psychological Services. To enable those services to effectively and efficiently manage increasing volumes of offenders with community sentences such as home detention community detention supervision and court order programmes $255.9 million of this year’s Budget has been set aside. Those funds will help to make that happen. Adequate staffing is critical if Community Probation and Psychological Services is to deliver its services to the desired standard. Thank you for the opportunity to speak Mr Chair. It is with pleasure that I do so.