Inmates are getting away with violence because they re not being punished for it, prison staff say.
Assaults against prison staff have been rising in recent years, no matter which way you measure it. Attacks that left staff needing hospital care have nearly doubled since 2016, and assaults overall have gone up from 5.3 per 100 prisoners to 8.95.
National MP Simeon Brown has called for a Government inquiry, which the Justice Select Committee - dominated by Labour - rejected, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis saying he was working with the union on a plan to de-escalate the violence. The assault rates on Corrections officers have just escalated, it s way too high, Corrections Association president Alan Whitley told Newshub. We needed to do something to drive it back down.
Francis Shaw, 55, is after a New Zealand written constitution. New Zealand, United Kingdom, and Israel are the only three countries without a formal written constitution, a document overarching day-to-day legislation. Former Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer has long called for one and the chief executive of Shaw’s iwi, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, confirmed he supported the call. A written statement from Shaw said: “In the absence of a constitution that restores and preserves the mana of the signatories of the treaty, I remain the enemy of the state.
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Francis Shaw is on a hunger strike in Rimutaka Prison (File photo).
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