brookingblog

To see Roger Brooking and Simon Cunliffe (Deputy Editor Otago Daily Times) interviewed by Russell Brown on Media7 – Click on this link:  The politics of punishment

Section 5 of the Corrections Act requires that prisons are “operated in accordance with rules …  that are based on the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.” However, in its report titled “Investigation of the Department of Corrections in relation to the Access and Availability of Prisoner Health Services”, the Ombudsman [...]

The Howard League for Penal Reform is calling for a 50% reduction in the prison population. On Monday April 2nd the Wellington Branch of the League held its inaugural meeting at Parliament hosted by Labour’s Charles Chauvel.  Other speakers at the opening included the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Grant Robertson, VUW criminologist Dr [...]

Dear Gerry, Thank you for comparing New Zealand to Finland and bringing these remarkable differences between our two countries into the open.  Professor John Pratt, a criminologist at Victoria University has been making similar comparisons for years – but no one seems to listen. That’s a shame because Prof Pratt is recognised by those in [...]

A Bill has just passed its first reading in the New Zealand Parliament which will enable prisoners to be charged with an offence for drinking too much water.  Corrections Minister Anne Tolley said:  “The Bill will make it an offence for a prisoner to ‘waterload’ prior to a drug test. This means that a prisoner [...]

The Government has announced that two old prisons will close – Wellington’s Mount Crawford Prison (which holds 120 prisoners) and the New Plymouth prison (which holds 112).  That’s a total of 225 prison beds that will go – permanently.  And about time too – those places are pre-historic.  However, the closures are being used to [...]

The Government has set 10 targets for the public sector over the next three to five years. One of those targets is a reduction in criminal reoffending. The responsibility for this clearly falls on the Corrections Department – which currently provides a number of rehabilitation programmes focussed on different aspects of offending such as anti-social [...]

The Government has just given the go ahead to Corrections to build a new 960 bed prison at Wiri – to be run by Serco. The prison is expected to cost over $400 million to build with another $500 million in operating costs. In other words, nearly $1 billion of taxpayers’ money is going to be spent [...]

The Department of Corrections has been deleting information about the Department on a page on Wikipedia. In the last couple of months, the page has become the venue of a wiki editing war between alcohol and drug counsellor, Roger Brooking, and two other contributors who apparently work for the Corrections Department.  Mr Brooking is the author [...]

The NZ Herald reported today (February 21) that Serco, the operator of Mt Eden prison has been fined $150,000 after a prisoner escaped. Serco is an international conglomerate based in Britain and given the contract to run the Mt Eden prison. The Corrections Department has carried out a review of security after notorious inmate Aaron Forden [...]

On December 11, the NZ Herald reported that the families of those killed by Wililam Bell gathered to remember those they lost in the Panmure RSA ten years ago. Bell killed three people at the RSA and seriously injured another – Susan Couch. In 2001, Ms Couch was working part time doing the club’s accounts. [...]

The attack on the five year old Belgian girl on holiday with her family at the Habitat Club in Turangi is hard to fathom. Friends of the 16 year old who admitted raping the young girl describe him as a ‘nice guy’ and are struggling to believe he would do such a thing.  His mother [...]

In  May 2006, National Finance went into receivership owing more than 2000 investors about $21 million. In October, 2011 one of the former directors, Trevor Ludlow, was sentenced to five years and seven months in jail. He was found guilty of charges laid by the Serious Fraud Office relating to theft as a person in a special relationship. [...]

The case of 16 year old Levi Elliot who killed another teenager in a drink driving accident illustrates a significant failing in New Zealand’s drink driving laws. Background On May 28, 2011 Mr Elliot and 17 year old Shaun Nilson were drinking at a gathering at a friend’s home in Hamilton.  At 1.00am they went [...]