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Review
of Legal Aid
In September, Dame Margaret Bazley’s discussion paper
“Improving the legal aid system” was released. (See
Ministry of Justice website). The paper examines Legal Aid
delivery from the standpoint of cost and the quality of the legal
aid system. The NZ legal aid system covers three categories of
legal service: education and information; legal service other
than representation (such as legal advice), and legal
representation. Most public interaction with the system is at the
information and education end. Most of the cost is at the legal
representation end.
more |
NZ
Parole Board remains risk averse
The report of the NZ Parole Board is always worth close reading
(New Zealand Parole Board Annual Report 2008/09). Designed for
public consumption, it is a glossy affair with reports, graphs,
photos of some of the 36 Board Members and quotes which capture
the human (and sometimes pessimistic) dimension of the
challenging work they do. We learn that the Parole Board now
conducts it work electronically. Laptop computers rather than
paper stacks will now be in evidence at hearings. By early 2010
the Auckland and Christchurch offices will have closed. more |
Obstacles
to adequate drug and alcohol assessments
In September, following complaints, we wrote to CADS – the
Community Alcohol and Drug Service at the Canterbury DHB. We
wanted to know why they had suddenly stopped their assessments of
prisoners going to the Parole Board who sought and needed
treatment.
The potential for a place in a residential community treatment
programme on release clearly improves a prisoner’s release
plan and prospects and better informs decisions by the Board.
Only a minority receive treatment in prison.
It turns out that in June, the Regional Prisoner Services Manager
for South Island prisons advised CADS that from 1 July 2009
Corrections would no longer fund these assessments ‘even
when requested by the Parole Board’. more
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Sheriff
Joe Arpaio reined in
In our last Newsletter we quoted a US article on the abusive
practices of Arizona’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio whose gaze had
fallen on hapless illegal immigrants. This fellow is held up as a
Poster Boy by the more vengeful arm of the NZ victim’s
movement – which sees his tent prisons and harsh,
humiliating treatment of prisoners as methods we should emulate.
Recently Joe Arpaio has been stripped of some of his powers. His
deputies have arrested 33,000 people without immigration papers
since 2007. Thousands of complaints and a civil rights
investigation by the US Justice Department has put an end to his
aggressive tactics. In early October, Arpaio was stripped of his
federal authority to make immigration arrests. Is he agreeable?
Not a bit. He has now promised to continue chasing illegal
immigrants using State laws and personally drive them to the
border if federal officers refuse to take them into custody. This
is a man who thinks he is above the law. Populist adulation of
him is highly suspect.
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Wise
Counsel
Our Fact Sheet this month updates the booming statistics on
punishment in NZ. These provide a context for observations made
by our leading jurist. In July, Chief Justice Sian Elias gave the
Annual Shirley Smith Address. Her speech, “Blameless
Babes” (a phrase first used by lawyer Shirley Smith), was a
wise and timely reflection on criminal justice and the drivers of
crime. It also offered some proposals for consideration in
addressing future community safety. The speech was thoughtful,
closely researched and, at times, a tentative reflection on the
considerable shifts which have occurred over Elias’ 40
years of legal practice. It was familiar ground to those with an
informed interest in justice matters. Elias recognises that crime
is a source of proper public and political concern. Nonetheless,
she rightly notes that popular anxiety, increasingly punitive
sentences, the fixation with risk management and the rising
prison population have all failed to make our communities
safer.
more |
Critique
of Sheriff Joe and his puffery
In July The New Yorker featured an article profiling Joe Arpaio,
famed as ‘America’s toughest sheriff’
(“Sheriff Joe”, by William Finnegan, The New Yorker,
20 July 2009). It is an appalling read and should cause disquiet
amongst those who promote this man as doing a good job in
addressing crime. It reveals Arpaio as a
‘publicity-hog’ who employs a five-member media
relations team and who actively seeks out interviews and
organizes publicity stunts. While his main job as sheriff is to
oversee the county jails, criticism of him spans many other
issues. Lawsuits brought against Arpaio’s office on matters
such as jail conditions and prisoner treatment have cost the
County taxpayers an estimated $43 million. The sheriff’s
deputies have used stun guns on prisoners strapped into a
restraint chair with some dying as a result. A video has shown
the beating, shocking and suffocating of a prisoner. more |
The
dangers of Taser use
Following the NZ 2006/2007 trial of Tasers, the Police have
decided to deploy Tasers throughout the country. With government
support and a 2009 budget allocation of $10 million, around 720
Tasers will be deployed around the country. In light of recent
studies and reports this decision appears to be ill-considered.
The 2008 report analysing the Police trial of Tasers reveals some
alarming figures. Maori and Pacific Island peoples are
disproportionately represented in incidents involving the
deployment of Tasers (Maori at 32%, Pacific Island peoples at
26%). A recent review published in Emergency Medicine Australasia
examined the medical implications of Taser use, highlighting a
number of cases of concern. In one case a pregnant woman
miscarried following a Taser barb being lodged in her
abdomen.
more |
Visiting prohibition successfully
challenged
In July we sought a review of a visiting ban on a young mother of
two small children. Her 2 yr old had run into the ‘strip
area’ in the visits centre at Christchurch Men’s
Prison, mother and prison staff in hot pursuit. After viewing the
video footage, the Senior Inspector reversed the 12 month ban,
noting that the case did not warrant a ban at all: ‘It is
… clear to me that a less heavy-handed response from the
staff involved to the child’s absconding, and [the
mother’s] attempts to retrieve him would have de-escalated
the matter in short order and prevented it from becoming an
incident at all. More significantly, [mother] did not need to be
detained, leaving her younger child outside in the visits area,
to hear a lecture from staff on why her son should not be in the
strip area. She simply needed to be allowed to get the child,
return to the visits area and leave’. It is good that a
sense of fairness has prevailed.
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‘Three
Strikes’ law
Many variants of three strikes law have been put to the test
internationally over the past decade. The proposed NZ
‘three strikes’ law now before the Select Committee
appears to have learnt from some of the worst excesses of
overseas law – one example being a Californian sentence of
25 years’ imprisonment for a third offence in which a slice
of pizza was stolen
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/jan/26/usa.duncancampbell).
Nonetheless, the Bill remains an ill thought out sensationalist
measure with little likelihood of achieving the aims it sets
down. It has also major financial and opportunity costs.
more |
Roper
ideas revisited by Dr Pita Sharples
In May, Dr Pita Sharples, Minister of Maori Affairs and Associate
Minister of Corrections spoke to our AGM. He focussed on an
alternative model to prison that he has been developing for 25
years. (It is a model analogous to the Habilitation Centre
proposal in the 1989 Roper report on prisons). Based on kaupapa
Maori, Sharple’s vision is “designed to suit
everyone”. Existing Maori Focus Units in the prison system
are the result of previous efforts by Sharples who stated that he
has Government support in principle for a new style 60-bed
stand-alone unit, separate from prison compounds. There is no
clear timeframe yet, as costing, training, staffing and location
issues have yet to be addressed. If successful, prisoners with 2
years remaining of their prison term would be eligible “to
earn their way into the units”. more |
The
Impact of Longer Lockdowns – word from the
prisons
In our April newsletter we covered the issue of longer lockdown
times in prisons. Since then, we have received several letters
from prisoners on their experience of lockdowns, as well as on
many other important prison issues. These letters are very much
appreciated and have been informative. More letters are welcome.
Two correspondents from Auckland Prison both noted that prison
managers are claiming significant staff shortages and have been
imposing longer lockdown hours to free up staff from one unit and
rotate them to another. This included staff from the Special
Needs Unit being assigned to other units to cover shortfalls. One
correspondent told of an experience of over 19 hours lockdown in
a 24 hour period, including a 15 hour stretch, while another told
of experiences of 25 stretches of lockdowns during weekends.
more |
Double bunking in cells
The 2009 Budget included funding for double bunking at five of
our newest prisons – Northland (Ngawha), Auckland Regional
Women's, Springhill (North Waikato), Otago and Mt Eden. The
measures are expected to add 950 beds starting next year. Given
the expected rise in the prison population, this option has been
chosen as a cheaper alternative to building more prisons. Double
bunking has previously been rejected by the Corrections
Department. It rightly considered the standard 6.5m2 cell as
unsuitable for two people. Corrections Association NZ, a union of
prison staff, is concerned that such close-quarter living will
increase prisoner unrest and make staff jobs harder.
Criminologist Greg Newbold believes this measure will raise the
incidence of rape, bullying and violence in cells. Double bunking
is a further sign of deteriorating conditions in our prisons. It
is a squalid and inhumane measure.
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Public
Accountability and Private Prisons
Over the past decade much has been written about private prisons.
Wherever one sits in the debate about the growing international
market in private prisons, there is now a good body of evidence
on which to form an opinion (See websites below). Some of this is
positive, some is cautionary and some is damning. Notably, few
governments decide to introduce or expand the private prison
system in an 'evidence-led' manner.
more |
Obfuscation
over details of lockdown times
Last November, the League wrote to all Prison Managers seeking
the lock-down times of each unit at their prison. We did so
because of increasing complaints from around the country about
longer lockdowns - some reportedly unlocked only between 9.30am
to 2.30pm daily. We sought a fuller picture of the extent of this
problem and thought this a simple task for Prison Managers.
Within days we received several clear, one page replies detailing
this information. But then the wheels came off. more |
The
Work of the NZ Parole Board
In December we received the NZ Parole Board report for 2007/08.
This public record provides information on the purpose of parole,
parole board membership, objectives, functions, guiding
principles, and hearings by type. Several projects are underway
to improve the way the Board works. Professor Jim Ogloff, an
international expert on Risk Assessment, is reviewing the
Structured Decision Making process in use. He is also reviewing
all modern research to identify what is effective in securing a
successful release. His findings on parole use are clear.
'Incontrovertible evidence now shows that a system of parole with
graduated release planning and supervision reduces the level of
re-offending of offenders who are released from prison'.
more |
Parole
(Extended Supervision Orders) Amendment Bill
Over the last few months a raft of new 'justice' legislation has
been introduced into Parliament, some of it under 'urgency'. This
means that no submissions can be made in which public concern
about aspects of the new law is heard. One such Bill, rushed
through its three readings in Parliament on the 2nd April was the
Parole (Extended Supervision Orders) Amendment Bill, which amends
the Parole Amendment Act 2007. This Bill allows for part-time
residential restrictions to be imposed after the first 12 months
of an extended supervision order (ESO) made by the NZ Parole
Board when a person is released.
more |
Unsustainable
demands for 'serial vengeance'
As we go to print, an axe hovers over the head of Correction's
boss, Barry Mathews. Fairness and competency have little to do
with this sorry sight. This is pure politics. The Minister of
Corrections, Judith Collins, has taken the occasion of the
Auditor-General's critical report into the Department's
management of parole, to distance herself from the report's
findings, the previous government, and her department. With the
draft in her hands since December, she has had time to hone her
rhetoric
more |
Ombudsmen:
the 'unsatisfactory' mental health care in prisons
Recently we received the Report of the Ombudsmen for 2007/2008.
These reports provide detailed information about the work done
for the year and the issues causing concern. This year the state
of mental health care in prisons is identified as a 'Key Issue'
of great concern. During visits to prisons the Ombudsmen 'observe
a number of prisoners who, through no fault of their own, tend to
the irrational in their behaviour. Routine contact with prisoners
reveals a noticeable number who quite plainly suffer from some
form of mental illness or personality disorder of a severity
which would seem to require hospitalisation and/or significant
medical intervention'. more |
The
Work of the NZ Parole Board
In December we received the NZ Parole Board report for 2007/08.
This public record provides information on the purpose of parole,
parole board membership, objectives, functions, guiding
principles, and hearings by type. Several projects are underway
to improve the way the Board works. Professor Jim Ogloff, an
international expert on Risk Assessment, is reviewing the
Structured Decision Making process in use. He is also reviewing
all modern research to identify what is effective in securing a
successful release.
more |
New Position at Howard
League
At present, the League is considering employing a Media and
Research Officer, initially, for five hours a week. We anticipate
this person will a) produce regular Media Releases addressing the
issues which give rise to ill-informed public debate about the
justice and penal systems and b) produce our Fact Sheet and
Newsletter every two months. Both tasks will require keeping
abreast of the official reports and research we receive.
A good grasp of the political and social issues, which shape the
law and order debate in NZ, would be essential. Knowledge of,
and/or experience with the media would also be a bonus.
Experience within the League means that the person would be
supported and mentored. The key object is to proactively promote
open, informed and rational debate about issues of crime and
punishment in NZ. If you (or someone you know) fits the bill
please contact us on 03 3429 785. |
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The Howard League for Penal Reform
Canterbury