NZ Opens Door To Private Prisons
Private companies will again compete with the New Zealand Corrections Department to run new prisons, including a 900-to-1200-bed jail due to open by 2012, according to the Dominion Post.
The move, promised in National’s law and order policy, is set to reignite debate on the private sector’s role in public services. It comes as Mrs Collins signals that heads could roll in Corrections after a spate of escapes this year. The previous National government allowed private companies to tender for jail contracts, and let the management of the new Auckland Central Remand Prison, opened in 2000, to an Australian firm. Labour canned the contract in 2005 when it passed a law that removed the ability of private companies to run jails.
National argues that private companies commonly used to run prisons overseas provide better management and programmes and do the job more cheaply than government agencies. It cost $42,000 per inmate to run the Auckland remand centre when it was headed by Australian Correctional Management, compared to an average of $52,000 in a Corrections Department facility …
Labour argues that prisons are a core public service and should not be run for profit. A spokesman said the party would oppose any move to open prison management to competition. “Labour believes that it is the role of the public sector to deprive people of their liberty and not the role of the private sector. Prisons are a core public service along with defence and police.”