Bindra Mahesh: Urgent Debates — Serco—Decision to End Contract for Mt Eden Corrections FacilityText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeBindra Mahesh: Urgent Debates — Serco—Decision to End Contract for Mt Eden Corrections Facility[Sitting date: 09 December 2015. Volume:710;Page:8706. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MAHESH BINDRA (NZ First): We have come round full circle. The Minister who is now interested in cleaning this mess is the one who created this mess in the first place. When Serco was invited to take over Mt Eden prison I was personally affected—my career was affected—because I was a custodial officer in the old Mt Eden Prison the only real jail in the country in those days. We took a lot of pride in our work and we took a lot of pride in making a difference in people’s lives and we actually did that on the floor. We did not watch people on cameras and sit in a glass bowl seeing prisoners fighting and doing nothing about it. We actually went inside those yards whenever there was trouble because we were sure that our backs were being watched.The other reason was that we had something called staff to prisoner ratios there. The staff to prisoner ratio in the Department of Corrections - run jails are three officers to a maximum-security prisoner. We have only one maximum-security prison in the country now which is Pāremoremo. Three officers to one prisoner—that is the ratio for maximum-security prisoners. It is one officer to 15 prisoners when it comes to the high-security prisoners and one officer to 30 prisoners when it comes to the minimum-security prisoners because they have been observed over a long period of time and their classification has been processed in a way that their risk of assault their risk of escape and their risk of reoffending are minimal.When Serco walked in I walked out. I was encouraged to apply for a job with Serco and I asked a few questions. The questions were: is the staff to prisoner ratio going to be the same as the Department of Corrections’? The answer was: “Actually we are going to go for a dynamic rostering system.” What does that mean? That means you will not get the same staff to prisoner ratio your life will be put at risk your life will be endangered and there will be risks to your personal safety because a certain company called Serco wants to make profits out of public money. So that was one question that was unanswered.The other question was: are my working conditions going to be the same? I was told that Serco is an international company a very reputable company. I came to know about the reputation or the lack of it later on. I was told: “Yes Serco is a very reputable company.” Well that reputation is shredded this morning I believe. I refused the job with Serco and I chose to stay with the Department of Corrections because at least I knew that my safety was not being compromised there and so did some others.The other question I asked was: is there a lack of good prison managers in the country so that you are importing foreigners to run our prisons? Is there a lack of experienced efficient dedicated committed prison officers in the country so that you are going all over the world to recruit mercenary prison officers? The answer that I got was that Serco is again a really reputable employer. I would like to make a special mention of one of the most experienced prison managers in the country namely Matua Kelly Pūohotaua. He was the most experienced prison manager in the North Island when Serco took over Mt Eden prison. He took a wise decision just like myself. He chose to stay with the Department of Corrections and not join Serco in spite of all the lollies being shown there.The other name that comes to my mind is the then superintendent of Mt Eden prison. The name is Deborah Bradley. She took a lot of pride in her job. She took a lot of pride in the work that she did. When she walked into a prison yard the prisoners respected her because she was a thorough professional. She was very fair but very firm. She has a track record of rehabilitating a large number of prisoners—hardened criminals. I had the privilege of working with such bright people such dedicated people such proud New Zealanders.So I walked out of the Serco deal and I chose to stay with corrections. I knew from the beginning that this day was coming. It is just sad that it has taken the Government 5½ years to get here. This should not have happened in the first place. Serco should never have come into our prisons. Serco should never have got that contract. One thing is for sure—I am not getting a job with Serco because of the way that we have been taking shots at it me and my colleagues Kelvin Davis and David Clendon.Hon Member: And you don’t want a job with them.MAHESH BINDRA: Yes and I do not want a job with it either.Coming back to Serco it has a bad track record overseas. It has a worse track record over here in Mt Eden prison. When the safety of prisoners is compromised when the safety of staff is compromised when there is no focus on the rehabilitation of prisoners—there is focus only on profits—there is no way that that company is going to succeed in our prisons. There is no way that our prisons are going to benefit from the so-called reputation and the so-called experience of such companies. We actually think that stopping here is not good enough. The promise of not renewing Serco’s contract in Mt Eden prison is not good enough. We want Serco to go from this country altogether. We want the Wiri Prison contract to also be gone next because whatever has happened in Mt Eden prison nobody can guarantee that it is not going to happen in Wiri Prison because the staff ratio is the same as it was in Mt Eden prison.Just the other day I had a phone call from an officer working in Wiri Prison and he described an incident where a group of low-security prisoners were walking from the medical centre to their own unit unescorted. Why? Because of a shortage of staff. Why is there a shortage of staff? Because Serco wants to make a profit on staff. So a particular prisoner was targeted by a high-security prisoner from the other unit. He was beaten up badly and he had to be taken back to the medical centre for further treatment. Later on that prisoner was shifted to the hospital because of the seriousness of the injuries. What Serco did just to show the number of prisoners on medication is lower was convince that prisoner to come back to the corrections facility so that the expense of the hospital could be minimised. So the safety of that prisoner was compromised and that is a worry. I would not be surprised if there are similar incidents taking place in Wiri Prison as have taken place in Mt Eden prison. I think we should not take a chance and we should get rid of Serco all together. Thank you.