Homelessness up by 58% in Auckland
$250mn in emergency housing “savings” a year under National, while government increases corrections budget to ~$2b a year, and will surpass NZ’s ”moral and fiscal prison failure prison rate” by 2026
crime
prisons
RNZ’s report on its Israel/Gaza coverage is not credible
Radio New Zealand’s decision to conduct a review of its Israel-Palestine coverage post-7 October 2023 is commendable. We believe the presented report does not meet a credible standard in terms of breadth, methodology and analysis.
The Abuse in Care report and the Government’s boot camp proposal
The Royal Commission’s recently released report into abuse in care has highlighted how unsuccessful and how damaging boot camps can be at the time the Government is celebrating the opening of its latest attempted version of a boot camp.
What really matters this election – poverty
National has shown its real priorities with proposals to cut benefits that will pay for increased tax concessions for landlords and increasing prison resources in anticipation of the crime wave the increased poverty will cause.
The very strange election campaign
With 98 days to go despite large parts of the electorate being very grumpy the polls are neck and neck and Labour can still win. This is what they have to do.
NACT’s Law & Order Policies: Dog Whistle Or Proto-Fascism?
NACT’s Law & Order policies are a dog whistle and signs of proto-fascism.
Prison conditions
Statements by the Minister for Corrections and Corrections themselves asserting that there had been no complaints about prison conditions at Waikeria, in the face of the Ombudsman’s report, just look to me to be pure sophistry and bullshit. The report on conditions in the high security make grim reading. Even ignoring the inmates protest – I want to protest about the waste of my taxes in providing such a unproductive, inhumane and outright evil environment.
Waikeria Prison
The stand off at Waikeria Prison between inmates and Corrections staff has attracted two responses from opposition parties, one being constructive and helpful and the other being complete and utter grandstanding.
Trump pardons buddies
Donald trump has in the past couple of days issued a number of pardons to people including former members of his campaign team, Jared Kushner’s father, a group of contractors involved in the massacre of 14 Iraqi civilians including a 14 year old boy and Ben Carson’s best friend.
National’s week from hell
A review of National’s week which is as bad as any week I can remember.
National is going low on law and order issues
Over the past week National has shown a willingness to take really base aggressive positions on law and order issues for political advantages no matter what principles are at stake. And at the same time show a complete lack of understanding of the issues that are involved.
BREAKING NEWS: Simon Bridges Calls on Simon Bridges to Stand Down
BREAKING NEWS: Simon Bridges calls on the leader of the opposition to stand down while the SFO case is before the courts.
Little announces changes to Prisoner voting rights
Andrew Little has announced a review of prisoner voting rights to overturn National’s law change which the Courts have ruled to be in breach of fundamental rights and unjustified. Simon Bridges has announced that National will reverse any such law change. And he has topped this off by proposing that Tauranga City Council should prosecute and fine beggars and homeless people.
British Justice tortures Assange
Craig Murray reports on the horror of Julian Assange’s treatment by British so-called “justice.” Read it and don’t weep. You can see why Murray resigned from the UK foreign service; their diplomacy is just as bad.
The Government’s prison reforms
The Government has announced policies designed to reduce Maori incarceration rates dramatically.
Bridges’ dodgy crime statistics
Simon Bridges is trumpeting some figures he has received from the Government as evidence that crime rates are increasing. But there is a slight problem. Police figures show that the number of reported offences is decreasing.
Assange Must Be Extradited
There is no doubt that Julian Assange should be extradited when his UK jail sentence ends. Justice demands it.
Walking the Human Rights Tightrope in NZ Prisons
The question of prisoners’ rights has hit the news today. That’s rare because we don’t normally care.
A new Guest Post from Maggie puts the case that we walk a tightrope when we seek to simplify the complex issues at play in prison.
Simon Bridges says the weirdest things – Criminal Justice
Simon Bridges has justified his claim that the three strikes law is working by releasing an Italian study that has not been peer reviewed on the effects on white collar criminals of a pardon system.
The UN is shocked by NZ’s child poverty rates
Earlier this year the United Nations expressed shock and concern at New Zealand’s rates of child poverty, homelessness, incarceration and violence. What is this Government doing to address these issues?
Simon Bridges, the three strikes law and the Bill of Rights
National obviously desperately want to divert attention away from the Housing Corp methamphetamine fiasco. After five days of continuous bad news who can blame them.
Labour does not want to let them all out
Andrew Little has proposed the repeal of the irrational three strikes law. But signs are that National will not engage in a reasoned debate about what the law should be.
The law and order debate and the grade one tosser
The Government has announced it will not proceed with the Waikeria mega prison as part of its policy to decrease the prison muster by 30%. And the called for public debate starts off with one of the major players using a study the author of which subsequently retracted because the data he relied on was wrong.
Simon Bridges’ not very good first week
In this very important first week Simon Bridges has committed two major blunders. He has claimed he was environmentally friendly when any view of his Ministerial history would confirm that this is not the case. And he forgot his Government oversaw the stripping of democratic rights from all prisoners, and adjusted his position when his error was pointed out.
Why does Criminal Justice have to be so politicised?
Judith Collins has indicated that the chances of a mature debate about Criminal Justice are slim.
Little proposes radical shake up of the Criminal Justice system
Andrew Little has called for a complete change the way criminal justice works. But National’s initial response suggests that the prospects of a mature discussion on the issue are slim.
Rimutaka Prison.
Who are the bigger criminals?
Updated.
Three strikes law to go
Andrew Little has announced that Act’s three strikes for offenders legislation is going to be repealed.
The Catholic Church is urging its parishoners to vote
The catholic bishops of Aotearoa have released a pamphlet urging parishoners to vote. And apart from conservative positions on euthenasia and drug liberalisation the policies they support have a decidedly progressive bent.
Nats panic over climbing prison population – I have some advice
The government is “seeking advice” over the skyrocketing prison population. I’m happy to oblige – but they aren’t going to like it…
Māori prison?
Andrew Little is not ruling out the ‘radical’ suggestion of a prison run on Maori values: ‘Whatever we’re doing now is wrong’.
NRT: The banality of evil
I/S at No Right Turn: “This is where National’s cuts and austerity have taken us: to a place where Corrections tortures and abuses people because it is the “cheapest” way of managing them.”
The Chief Prison Inspector’s report on Serco and MECF
The Chief Prison Inspector’s report on Mount Eden Corrections Facility has now been released and has presented a damning judgment on Serco’s management of the prison.
America bails on private prisons
America is bailing on private prisons because they don’t work. What’s the bet that National is ‘too proud and arrogant’ to follow suit.
Judith Collins is losing a PR battle with a patched Gang Member*
*title borrowed from @shakingstick.
National Ltd™’s Sam Lotu-Iiga tries to pull the wool over our eyes
It was suggested in Parliament that SERCO’s first place position on the Prison Performance Table had been the result of Lotu-Iiga and his department having had the wool pulled over their eyes.