Paula Bennett’s comment that some people have fewer human rights than others is deeply concerning and reflects the National Government’s backward approach to drugs, the Green Party said today. “National are proving once again that they are out of touch, out of date, and out of time to do anything that will actually help us to reduce violence and drug addiction,” said Green Party leader James Shaw. “Human rights are not something you can take away from people because it...

A new report highlighting the causes of the runaway growth in the prison population released today is further proof we need a cross-party consensus on justice issues, the Green Party said today. JustSpeak’s new report ‘Bailing out the Justice System’ shows that new laws introduced in 2013 reversed the longstanding decline in prison numbers and forced the Government to spend a billion dollars on a new prison. “This report makes clear that morally and economically, we can’t afford to keep...

Today’s report from the Waitangi Tribunal is a wake-up call about National’s failure to tackle Māori overrepresentation in the justice system, the Green Party said today. The Tribunal found the Department of Corrections in breach of the Treaty principles of equity and active protection because of an insufficient focus on Māori  reoffending, and has recommended urgent reforms. “What we are seeing is more evidence of a Government which is content with doing the bare minimum. Today’s findings from the Tribunal should...

Today’s report from the Waitangi Tribunal is a wake-up call about National’s failure to tackle Māori overrepresentation in the justice system, the Green Party said today. The Tribunal found the Department of Corrections in breach of the Treaty principles of equity and active protection because of an insufficient focus on Māori  reoffending, and has recommended urgent reforms. “What we are seeing is more evidence of a Government which is content with doing the bare minimum. Today’s findings from the Tribunal should...

Bill English’s state of the nation speech today lacked vision and leaves New Zealanders with a stark choice about the kind of government they want, the Green Party said. “The new Prime Minister didn’t talk about the housing crisis, or stagnant wages, or polluted rivers and lakes. These issues aren’t going to go away – in fact, it’s now clear that the only way to fix them is by changing the Government,” said Green Party Co-leader James Shaw. “New Zealanders...

The Green Party is calling on the Government to rule out using Serco for their next public private-partnership (PPP) prison given its atrocious track record in New Zealand. The Government has just announced that the building of a 1,500 bed prison at Waikeria will be a PPP. This comes after their announcement last month of spending an additional $1 billion to house the growing prison population. “The most well-known prison PPP in New Zealand is with Serco, which has been...

Reports that Corrections management felt unable to censure Serco over fight clubs at Mt Eden Prison cast serious doubts over whether the Government can properly monitor privately run prisons, the Green Party said today. Reports this morning suggest that Corrections sat on a report into fight clubs at Mt Eden prison for a whole year, as the National Commissioner Jeremy Lightfoot did not think that Serco would make any necessary changes. Corrections was also warned in 2014 that fight clubs...

An increase in the number of unnatural deaths and self-harm incidents in prisons are further evidence of failings in our health and justice systems, and show the urgent need for a mental health enquiry, the Green Party said today. Corrections data for 2015/16 shows there were 11 unnatural deaths in custody, as many as the two previous years combined, and 26 self-harm threat-to-life incidents, six times as many as in 2014/15. Suicide is the most common form of unnatural deaths...

It’s absurd that the Justice Minister is pretending that packing more people into overcrowded prisons is a strategic solution, when she should be trying to address the reasons why increasing numbers of Kiwis are being incarcerated, the Green Party said today. Minister Collins has this morning issued a press release announcing increased “double bunking” and growing the size of our prisons to meet the out of control demand that her Government has helped created. “Hearing Minister Collins’ comments about squeezing...

The Chief Inspector of Corrections’ damning report into fight clubs at the Serco-run Mt Eden Correctional Facility definitively shows why the Government should give up on its private-prisons experiment, the Green Party said today.