Elections 2020 - Party Policies - Justice, Law and Order - Corrections
25th Jul 20, 5:56am
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Corrections
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- Allow prisoners to earn a reduction in their overall sentence by successfully completing literacy, numeracy, jobreadiness and driver licensing courses.
- Eligible participating inmates would be able to earn up to a maximum of six weeks for every year of their term, depending on the types of courses completed.
- Attainment will be assessed against National Standards, the same as in schools.
- The purpose is to ensure more prisoners leave prison able to do things like read and respond to job ads, complete a household budget, and drive legally to work.
- Prisoners who enter prison with a higher level of educational attainment would also be eligible for incentives if they act as mentors to other prisoners.
- Read more here.
- Oppose the privatisation of prisons.
- Increase access to education programmes within prisons so that people have the skills to participate in and contribute meaningfully to society, working towards mandatory participation in education and rehabilitation programmes.
- Encourage the use of the Mental Health Act for continued care upon release from prison, including co-ordination with community mental health services, and strict release supervision where appropriate.
- Ensure Māori-led rehabilitation programmes are available and actively encouraged throughout the corrections system.
- Require corrections employees to undergo training to ensure they are responsive to the cultural needs of inmates, including understanding of Tikanga Māori.
- Work with the Department of Corrections to provide sustainable, long term housing and employment for those being released from prison who need help in these areas.
- Fund the development of Māori focus units in all prisons and youth justice centres.
- Address the disproportionately high rates of Māori prisoners.
- Ensure prisoners have full voting rights.
- Read more here and here.
- Continue to safely reduce the prison population, through effective crime prevention and rehabilitation strategies, progressive Policing, and improving access to legal services.
- Read more here.
- Use the Social Investment approach to work with vulnerable individuals and stop them entering a life of crime.
- Introduce the Clean Start policy for newly released prisoners to move to a new community.
- Expand the use of mental health support for prisoners, particularly young prisoners.
- Increase funding for education and drug treatment in prison.
- Focus on first-time remandees, many of whom have drug/alcohol or mental health issues. We will expand alcohol, drug, literacy and numeracy programmes for this group to reduce their chances of returning to prison.
- Ensure that all prisons are working prisons, so prisoners are either in work, education or training.
- Support the Howard League’s driving and literacy training.
- Read more here.
- Prioritise the principles of the Sentencing Act to focus on the needs of the victim, then the community, and lastly the offender
- Adopt New Zealand First’s Protection for First Responders and Prison Officers Bill as a Government Bill
- Introduce harsher penalties for fleeing drivers
- Increase the use of mandatory minimum sentences for serious violent and sexual offenders
- Introduce a degrees of murder regime that utilises ‘life for life’ for 1st Degree Murder
- Review and work to increase the fines for lower level crimes such as texting while driving and shoplifting
- Introduce an enforcement law for dangerous littering
- Implement a ‘Youth Justice Demerits’ system to provide accountability and certainty of support for youth offenders, youth aid officers and law enforcement
- Introduce a greater range of non-custodial sentences such as the confiscation of specific property, larger and long term reparation payments and fines.
- Remove concurrent sentences for those who commit offences while on parole, on bail, or whilst in custody
- Investigate the applicability of operational funding to equip corrections officers with body cameras and appropriate protective equipment
- Provide consistency in legislation and replace the term ‘prison officer’ and ‘prison guard’ with ‘corrections officer’
- Provide a minimum mandatory cumulative prison term for assaulting Corrections Officers
- Read more here.
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