The Green Party is questioning why Corrections refuses to issue SERCO with a final warning over its mismanagement of the Mt Eden Correctional Facility, despite the month long review being extended due to the volume of issues found.
The Green Party is questioning why Corrections refuses to issue SERCO with a final warning over its mismanagement of the Mt Eden Correctional Facility, despite the month long review being extended due to the volume of issues found.
“The review of SERCO, which was only supposed to take a month, has now been extended because of the sheer number of issues, and yet SERCO still has not received a Final Warning,” said Green Party corrections spokesperson David Clendon.
“Simply ‘stepping in’ is no longer enough. Corrections need to get the ball rolling to get rid of SERCO and the first step is issuing a Final Warning.
“You really have to wonder why Corrections are just sitting on their hands and refusing to issue the Final Warning.
“Equally, why has the Minister not asked for a please explain from Corrections over why a Final Warning hasn’t been issued?
“Is the Minister not pushing for a Final Warning because that is an admission of failure that the National Government isn’t willing to make?
“The evidence is now mounting that SERCO has completely mismanaged Mt Eden prison and the National Government’s private prison experiment has failed – yet no steps are being taken to get out of the failed contract.
“A large amount of taxpayer dollars has been wasted, prisoners have been injured, a prisoner has been killed and now the review has been extended – if that is not enough to start the process to give SERCO the boot, I am not sure what is,” said Mr Clendon.
