Young Jonathan: Corrections Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Reading 
Young Jonathan: Corrections Amendment Bill (No 2) — Third Reading 
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JONATHAN YOUNG (National—New Plymouth) 
: 
 I stand to support the Corrections Amendment Bill (No 2). This bill will improve the way our corrections facilities are run—addressing the rules of the house so to speak. The bill provides corrections institutions with increased powers of search and detection—as well as drug testing—in order to remove contraband and increase control of prisoners’ communications with the outside world particularly around the use of cellphones and the screening of mail. 
Although we hear about the previous Labour Government’s commitment to build 17 kilometres of wire fencing technology—with its associated power of miniaturisation—has given us minuscule electronic communication devices that can easily be concealed. The Corrections Amendment Bill (No 2) seeks to update legislation to respond to the increased capability of communications. It also uses such advancements in technology for the detection of contraband. The bill will make it harder for people to bring prohibited items into prisons make it easier to detect such prohibited items and increase the punishment for prisoners and others for bringing in or using such items. 
The bill addresses important issues that the people of New Zealand have great concern about: the protection of citizens from crime and the proliferation of crime from prisons. We understand that one of the primary purposes of our correctional institutions is to protect society. The availability of contraband and unauthorised means of communication through cellphones in particular keeps a prisoner locked into the culture of crime; it keeps feeding crime on the outside. When social and gang networks remain intact they allow a continuation of criminal behaviour undermining the protection of society. An easily accessible means of unauthorised communication can make prison into a pretence of punishment for inmates on the inside and a pretence of protection for citizens on the outside. 
One of the key purposes of our corrections facilities is to remove criminals from society for the protection of that society. A Government’s responsibility is the security of its citizens and this responsibility must be taken seriously. Time and again we hear the plea of victims to be cautious about the release of prisoners when they come up for parole particularly in relation to violent crime because when prisoners are released the victims lose their sense of security and protection. 
On the other side of the issue there are many genuine cases where inmates have made amends and have reintegrated back into society as responsible and contributing citizens. This is the highest aspiration for an inmate and we want to support people in the challenging and oftentimes difficult task of reintegrating. That is why this bill is called the Corrections Amendment Bill (No 2)—we want people to be corrected not just incarcerated. It is blatantly incorrect for an inmate to be able to continue a life of crime from within a corrections facility. 
Although this issue is always a work in progress 10 years of consideration is too long. The bill is a catch-up on those lengthy periods of consideration. The previous Government was too slow in cracking down on crime being run from inside prisons. The current Opposition will claim credit for the fact that it penned this bill while in Government but it may not be so quick to acknowledge the effective work of the National Opposition at the time which goaded it—and some feel even shamed it—into addressing this issue because of the litany of problems plaguing prisons. The previous Government failed to deliver the big hit it promised: preventing contraband from entering prisons which was enabling prisoners to commit crimes from behind bars. Consequently the Corrections Amendment Bill (No 2) languished on the Order Paper under two successive Ministers of Corrections. However this Government is addressing these pressing needs with no such hesitation but with utter determination because public safety is an increasingly dire concern among New Zealanders. As the Minister of Justice Simon Power said in December: “The new Government places public safety above all other issues when it comes to the law and order and justice debate.” 
The Labour Opposition may claim a strong record yet under its watch we saw an alarming increase in crime rates in New Zealand. Crime has increased by over 11 percent during the last year. The number of grievous assaults is up by 11.7 percent serious assaults by 13.7 percent minor assaults by 13.2 percent intimidation and threats by 7 percent and group assemblies by nearly 20 percent. So we have seen large increases. 
This bill will also ensure greater protection for New Zealanders by drastically reducing the ability of inmates to engage in criminal activities outside of prison. But the bill also assists inmates in their rehabilitation and I will speak about that momentarily. Successful rehabilitation is the highest aspiration for inmates in our corrections facilities. We do not want to have to build more facilities year after year. As legislators we must seek to be intent and committed regarding the rehabilitation of inmates to their families their communities and society as a whole. But too often because there is a continuance of their lives in the outside world—through contraband and unauthorised communication—there is very little shift or change from the culture of crime that surrounded them and that often sent them to prison in the first place. 
A strict and stringent prison environment is necessary. It is often the only opportunity inmates have to create distance and separation from their past lifestyle and associations. There is severely decreased opportunity for rehabilitation when associations from the outside world continue inside—and we all know they continue. We all understand the complexity of the criminal environment and the corrections facilities that people live in. Without doubt there are generational issues regarding the continuation of the culture of crime happening in our country. Where are the circuit breakers? What prison does is isolate inmates from continuing their activities in society but it also severely limits inmates’ contact with their past associations. This separation enables greater effectiveness of drug and alcohol programmes by ensuring that access to drugs and alcohol stops. 
The leading edge of this bill protects our society from crime being perpetuated from inside corrections facilities but the hidden edge in this bill gives tools that will stop inmates from being continually surrounded by the culture of crime that sent them to prison in the first place—thus enabling a more effective opportunity for an inmate to rehabilitate. 
We have delivered on our promise to introduce legislation that will enhance police tools crack down on gangs provide greater financial assistance to victims create Fresh Start programmes for young offenders make it harder to get parole bail and home detention and increase penalties for crimes against children. Now we are clamping down on contraband and unauthorised electronic communication—amongst a raft of other measures—to make our corrections facilities even more effective. We want this legislation passed because it contributes to a suite of legislation introduced by the Government that works to bring a combined effect: providing New Zealanders with greater confidence that New Zealand will become a safer place for us today for our children and for our children’s children who are tomorrow’s future. Thank you.