Attention to detail needed

Prison is not a normal situation for most New Zealanders and no-one should expect normal behaviour.

The people behind bars in New Zealand are, by and large, the worst of society - be it white collar criminals defrauding people out of their savings or murderers taking lives.

These are bad people in a closed environment and bad things will happen, despite the best of intentions.

There is no avoiding the most obvious failings of human nature.

But there has been a systemic failure of parts of both the justice and corrections systems which require closer scrutiny.

Last week the findings of a high-level inquiry headed by retired High Court Judge Dr John Priestley QC identified a chain of shortcomings and failings allowing Phillip John Smith to escape to Brazil.

The report identified 39 recommendations, 34 of which the Government has agreed to accept.

The remaining five recommendations raise wider issues the Government will consider as part of its work.

The inquiry noted while Phillip John Smith's escape did not indicate fundamental problems with the overall system, it did find there were shortcomings in various agencies' systems and processes.

Given the issues raised involve multiple agencies, Justice Minister Amy Adams is leading the Government response and related work programmes.

Information-sharing is one of the problems identified.

There is insufficient sharing between agencies of offender identity information.

Already, the claims of privacy invasion for offenders have been raised, but must be treated with caution.

People incarcerated for offences such as Smith need close restrictions to improve their monitoring and reduce reoffending.

Ms Adams and Corrections Minister Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga are in the firing line for the failings identified by Dr Priestley but so too is Corrections boss Ray Smith, who has been in the job for nearly five years.

Mr Smith has made a career in the public service and, by now, should be well aware of any failings by his department.

Mr Smith's contract was for five years when it was announced in 2010.

A future with Corrections must start to look unlikely at some stage.

Ms Adams and Mr Lotu-Iiga, at times, seem out of their depth.

Voters should have confidence in their ministers but sadly, in this case, it is not possible.

The problems at the Serco-run prison facilities have been well documented.

Claims of fight clubs, beatings and lockdowns at the Mt Eden and Wiri facilities continue to emerge, feeding the frenzy to return the privately-run prisons back to government control.

The Green Party is particularly vocal in wanting to end the privatisation of prisons.

But figures released to Radio New Zealand show assault rates at state-run prisons are just as bad, and in some cases worse, than the privately-run Mt Eden prison.

The worst overall assault rate was at Christchurch Women's Prison in the 2013-14 year, which recorded an overall rate of 37 assaults per 100 prisoners, followed by Hawkes Bay regional prison which had a rate of 23.5 assaults. Mt Eden has a rate of 22.9.

No one is calling for those state-run prisons to be put into the hands of a private operator.

There is room for both state and privately-run prisons in New Zealand.

What there is no room for is a letting down of the guard by the people in charge.

The escape, and eventual capture, of Phillip John Smith gives the opportunity for Ms Adams and Mr Lotu-Iiga to provide some confidence to the public offenders will be kept locked up and protected from the worst harm.

Steps have already been taken in allowing judges better access to the offending records of people appearing in front of them for sentence.

But there is more to do on the other side of the wall.

National has had a record for being a party of law and order and it's record is being tarnished by simple non attention to detail.

Mr Smith has had nearly five years to come to grips with one of the most difficult jobs in New Zealand.

Mistakes in justice and corrections must be minimised through a greater understanding of the system's failings by the personnel in charge.

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