Wairarapa 'mixed' on prisons | Wairarapa News | Local News in Wairarapa

Provocative remarks on whether New Zealand needs more prisons, made by Deputy Prime Minister Bill English, have caught Wairarapa spokesmen on crime and punishment on the back foot.

The country's Libertarianz Party leader, Masterton doctor Richard McGrath, and veteran prisoners aid advocate George Groombridge hedged their bets over controversial remarks made by Mr English on the building of new prisons and their role in preventing crime.

Mr English opened a can of worms by proclaiming, in what is seemingly a departure from his own government's stance on crime and punishment, that the country doesn't need more prisons, institutions he describes as being "moral and fiscal failures".

In response, Dr McGrath said while building prisons was a "legitimate function" of government he could "in a way" sympathise with Mr English. "There are a lot of non-violent criminals filling up our prisons. People who are there for smoking or possessing marijuana and the like."

The policies of his party meant the gradual decriminalisation of drug use and this would take those prisoners out of the system and, by doing so, save money.

Dr McGrath also said the Government's policy of using containers for housing prisoners was probably better value for taxpayers' money rather than building huge new institutions.

Mr Groombridge said there had to be places for "incarcerating people" who would never fit back into society.

"I am talking about murderers, rapists and the like."

He said there was a desperate need for rehabilitation centres where criminals capable of reforming could be held and then brought back into the community.

"For rehab centres to succeed, it is necessary to involve whole families.

"Without family involvement, they don't work."

Mr Groombridge said ironically National governments were "the greatest prison builders we have ever had" and millions of dollars had been spent "for what?"

He said he didn't doubt Mr English's comments were driven by the desire to save money.

On the national front, the remarks made by Mr English have met with a storm of criticism by those who believe the Government has gone soft on its treatment of criminals.

Sensible Sentencing Trust spokesman Garth McVicar accused the minister of "waving the white flag" to criminals, saying Mr English's comments that prison was a "fiscal and moral" failure showed he had no understanding of what prisons were for.

"The primary purpose of prison is to protect the public, a job they do very well.

"Prisons are not - and never can be - a one-stop shop to rehabilitate all the misfits created by years of failed social policies."

Mr McVicar said if Mr English was really serious about cutting the cost of prison then he should consider setting up the Arizona-style tent city prisons "in the middle of the Desert Road".

The tent prisons cost US$110,000 ($138,239) to house 600 prisoners.

"That's a big saving on the estimated $52 million to house the same number in the grand style of New Zealand prisons."

Mr McVicar said Mr English "could not have sent a clearer message to criminals and criminal apologists that his Government has capitulated in the fight against crime".

Mr English's comments co-incided with a plea made this week by the 2011 Quaker lecturer Tony Taylor, who wants New Zealand to set up a Commission on Penal Reform, and who backed the minister's remarks.

Delivering the yearly Quaker Lecture in Wanganui, Professor Taylor, emeritus professor of psychology at Victoria University, said the commission's aim should be to keep prisons only for incorrigible offenders "rather than the majority of prisoners who could earn redemption by other means".

The commission would deal with the rehabilitation of prisoners, with helping their families and would "attend to the human rights of victims and their families".