National all set to make a mess of prisons

Prison is one of those things many people have strong opinions about while knowing very little (or nothing) about it really.

The National Party and ACT would have us believe people in prisons are living the high life. Coddled. Plasma TVs and underfloor heating. The sub-text is they are better off in prison than hard working, law-abiding people. Being pampered instead of punished.

That picture isn't even remotely accurate, but the broader public don't know that and the public servants who work in prisons aren't allowed to talk about their work. As is often the case, the people who do know can't say and those who don't know fill the void.

Anyone who has spent much time in a New Zealand prison knows just how ugly, barren, dangerous and deeply boring they really are.

The prison I worked in had two prisoners in many cells. Staff are well aware of the risks this presents to other prisoners and to staff. I've had a few "moments" myself on several occasions with a pair of prisoners with a "view" on how things should be. With single prisoner cells, the staff have the upper hand (2 to 1) when they unlock a door. With 2 prisoner cells, it's even money.....unless change the rules and require 3 or 4 staff to open the doors...and then you better be prepared to pay for more staff.

Good luck, as prisons have been made so ugly and barren by the short-sighted hang'em high crowd that few want to work in them anyway. I don't think paying more is what National has in mind. The main pool of workers appeared to be ex-military people who, I supposed, were used to ugly, barren, cold-concrete surroundings. Where else can you risk injury or death for $22/hour on a 10-day shift run at any time of the day or night?

National wants to make sure prison staff are paid a lot less than the present rates and that there are a lot fewer staff per prisoner. That's the ONLY way you save money running a prison. They can't cut costs on food. They barely spend $4 / day per person as it is. They tried to cut heating costs by using the most efficient means available that is also resistant to prisoners wrecking it - under-floor heating buried in concrete.....but the National Party portrayed that as a "luxury".

Another angle is having two prisoners in a cell will help the gangs tighten their grip on prisons. The gangs already use NZ's prisons as a major recruiting ground and training camp for prospects. Gangs build their esprit de corps in prisons. It's their version of right of passage by trial.

If you want people to be violent criminals, just lock them up and allow them to be stood over and brutalised and you'll get what you wished for. If you want people to come out of prison and make a change for the better, then you MUST start treating them like the people they need to be on the day you let them out....or you have wasted all your time and money. Sure, some people are just rotten to the core - a form of permanent mental dysfunction - and can't be reformed or rehabilitated. Some prisoners are like that. But the vast majority aren't like that...or needn't be.

I've talked about this before, most fully on May 15th last year, just after the escape attempt from Mt. Eden. For a more detailed idea of what working in a prison is like, have a read. Walk the halls with me.