Corruption at Rimutaka Prison

I am not surprised that there is corruption at Rimutaka Prison. The pleasant surprise is that the Corrections Department has admitted it.

The reality is that there is massive and widespread corruption in the prison service. There are of course some honest staff there but the culture of corruption is so bad, it makes it hard for them. This is one of the reasons why Labour’s killing off of the privately managed prison was so horrendously bad – it was a chance to escape the culture of corruption.

Now people may think this is me dramatising. Well let me repeat the words I got told over drinks many years ago by a Corrections official whose job was to brief incoming Ministers. The briefing was basically:

Minister, there’s just two things you need to know about prisons. The first is that prisoners are the lowest scum of society. They lie, they cheat, they steal, they bash, they torture, they kill etc. You can’t believe a single thing they say.

The second is that prison guards are the second lowest scum of society. they lie, they cheat …..

Now before I get lynched by current or former prison guards, I am sure he was exaggerating somewhat and that in no way applies to all guards. But it did illustrate for me the scale of the problems within Corrections. This was from one of their own officials!

An incoming Minister gets briefed by both his Department and also by the former Minister. I should also share the words of a former Minister to his successor:

“Whatever you do, never have the soup”

Heh.

There’s no easy answer to the prison problem. Personally I would make sure any new prisons set up were done with entirely new managers and staff – maybe from overseas.