Muster Situation.

30 September 2007

 

Last Friday the CANZ muster team met with PPS to discuss the current situation in regards to musters. The Ministry of Justice forecasts have been exceeded by about 850 prisoners this year. These are the revised forecasts from last time when they got it wrong.

 

But the muster issue is not just simply a matter of saying there are not enough beds. There are enough beds and we will get through this tight time for the next couple of months. The real issue is the type of beds.

 

Remand prisoners increased by a massive 30% this year and when you put this on top of the new security classification process; it means we are having trouble with the high medium or BB beds. The reassuring part here is that PPS have no intention of fiddling with the classification process as they see it as a true reflection of the risk the prisoner poses. CANZ agrees entirely.

 

The other pressure point is the fact that the number of MAXI or CB prisoners has doubled since March this year.

 

What this has meant is that we have had more prisoners in Police cells than we would like. Remember PPS pays about $180 per night per prisoner for every night in Police cells. This is not funded for by the Government this money must be found from somewhere else within the existing budget.

 

Basically with the shortage of the appropriate classification beds and the increased number of escorts getting the prisoners to the right beds has resulted in a massive budget blow out.

 

To try and stop this from becoming to great a problem, PPS has been looking at alternatives. You should have noticed that the focus units around the place will be full or if not very close to full. There were about 150 odd beds across the department system in these focus units. Your managers have been told to fill them.

 

Otago Corrections Facility has increased the intake rate there. They are now taking 50 prisoners a week in stead of 20. Spring hill is about to open and there are no plans to increase the opening rate/ prisoner build up rate there yet.

 

A new range of sentences become available this month. Home Detention is now a stand alone sentence and pressure is being applied for the electronic bail option to be used for those prisoners that are eligible. There are about 100 remand prisoners that could be on electronic bail in the system currently.

 

So with this and the usual decrease of prisoners leading into Xmas, we are hoping we will not have to get into court cells.

 

CANZ has clearly pointed out our position that court cells are the very last resort after all other options have not only been explored but also used.

 

Please keep your eyes open for future updates as we are sure there is more to come.

 

Kia Kaha

 

CANZ Muster Team