10% of home detainees working or in training

Photo / APN

About one in 10 offenders sentenced to home detention are allowed to leave home for purposes such as work or training, official statistics indicate.

The Herald sought figures from the Corrections Department after it was revealed that Auckland GP Dr Hong Sheng Kong was permitted to resume medical work around two months after being sentenced to one year's home detention and 400 hours' community work.

Kong was sentenced in the Auckland District Court in November 2010 after admitting he defrauded taxpayers of more than $180,000.

He pleaded not guilty to a charge of obstructing the course of justice. He was discharged on that matter, but the Court of Appeal ordered a retrial, which is scheduled for August.

Kong's lawyer, Harry Waalkens, QC, told the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal in November: "The Medical Council assisted him in getting back to work and provided him with a letter of 20/12/10 which satisfied the probation office.

"He commenced working firstly three days per week, attending to the community work sentence in the remaining two days. After Easter [last year] he worked four days per week."

Corrections, responding to the Herald's November request under the Official Information Act, said this month that it began recording statistics on authorised home-detention absences only in October.

At October 31, there were 1468 people on home detention, of whom 214 (15 per cent) had absences for work or training that month. At November 30, 1234 were on home detention; 123 (10 per cent) had had absences for work or training that month.

The department's acting general manager of community probation services, Astrid Kalders, said offenders sentenced to home detention were required to remain at home under electronic monitoring, unless a probation officer permitted an absence for purposes such as work, training or a rehabilitation programme in the community.

"Where practicable and where public safety is not at risk, probation officers encourage and support offenders serving home detention sentences to either retain or obtain paid employment. As well as assisting with reducing recidivism, this also decreases the overall cost to the taxpayer as the offender will not be receiving a benefit.

But Exposing Unacceptable Financial Advice spokesman Gray Eatwell said white collar crime could have devastating impacts and needed stronger punishment than home detention.

The fact one in 10 people on home detention were able to leave their homes to work was even more of an insult to their victims, he said.

Mr Eatwell has previously criticised the fact former Bridgecorp chairman Bruce Davidson escaped a jail term and was sentenced to nine months' home detention for misleading investors.

OUT AND ABOUT

Date: October 31.
* Number on home detention: 1468.
* Number/percentage approved absences for work or training during that month: 214 (15 per cent).

Date: November 30.
* Number on home detention: 1234.
* Number/percentage approved absences for work or training during that month: 123 (10 per cent).

- Additional reporting: Nicholas Jones