Dangerous prisoners put on commercial flights

Dangerous prisoners are being flown around the country on commercial flights, it was reported today.

The revelation sparked anger from the National Party, whose law and order spokesman Simon Power said the public would be appalled.

He called on Corrections Minister Damien O'Connor to assure the public's safety was not at risk.

The Dominion Post reported today that the transfers were taking place as the Corrections Department struggled to cope with a record number of inmates.

The newspaper said the department was struggling with an explosion in inmate travel costs, spending about $100,000 a month on private carriers this financial year, more than it had spent in total for any of the previous five years.

According to figures the newspaper obtained under the Official Information Act, the department had spent $684,128 since July 1 on private carriers in transferring 6854 inmates between prisons by plane or bus.

The cost per prisoner transfer is almost triple the previous financial year. The figures exclude transfers by department-owned vehicles.

Public Prisons Service acting general manager Bob Calland told the newspaper the figures did not differentiate between air and road travel, but the increase in spending was due to more inmates and the requirement to transfer them at short notice.

Any prisoner, including maximum-security inmates, could be transferred on commercial flights. The difference was in the number of guards escorting the prisoner, with three assigned to the most dangerous inmates.

It was up to airlines to dictate how many prisoners they would allow on any commercial flight. Though the Corrections Act allowed for prisoners to be handcuffed at any time during an escort, only the aircraft's captain could approve that during the flight.

An Air New Zealand spokesman told the paper the airline accepted prisoners only if they were deemed no risk to other passengers.

- NZPA