Greens to help Government pass prisoner compensation bill

The Government has done a deal with the Greens to get a bill passed through Parliament under urgency that will allow compensation awarded to prisoners to be handed over to their victims.

But Opposition MPs say this is the worst possible result because it means prisoners can still be paid compensation, which they argue should not happen in the first place.

The Prisoners and Victims Bill was introduced after public outrage over a $130,000 award to five criminals for mistreatment in solitary confinement. The Court of Appeal yesterday started hearing an appeal against the award.

The bill allows for compensation paid to prisoners for mistreatment while incarcerated to be given to their victims.

Leader of the House Michael Cullen yesterday said an agreement had been reached with the Green Party which would support the bill's passage through Parliament under urgency this week.

Lawyer Tony Ellis, who represented five criminals who were last year awarded $130,000 for mistreatment in solitary confinement at Paremoremo, said last night the bill would not apply to this week's appeal court hearing. But the bill, if passed, would apply to dozens of other cases he has lined up, as they had not yet had their initial hearings.

Dr Cullen said that given cases before the courts, it was important the legislation was enacted quickly and he was grateful to the Greens for their support.

The Green Party responded with its own statement, saying it had won a "significant victory" for human rights because the Government had agreed to set up an independent prison inspectorate in return for its support.

Dr Cullen said the bill would also now include a sunset clause to enable more time to consider some of the "broader issues" including suggestions around the independent prison inspectorate, how victims were assisted - particularly in the immediate post-trauma period - and other matters.

Green MP Nandor Tanczos said the Government had been under pressure from United Future which threatened to pull the plug on the bill.

While the Greens would not have been "too unhappy" if the bill had fallen over, the Government would have turned to United Future and the resulting changes would have been far worse, Mr Tanczos said. United Future had wanted to put a stop to any financial compensation to prisoners who had been subjected to abuse while in prison. But Mr Tanczos said that would have infringed on human rights.

United Future MP Marc Alexander said that his party had offered the Government a moratorium on compensation payments but the Government and the Greens had done "a dirty little deal".

National MP Tony Ryall said that regardless of the political manoeuvring, "the bill still allowed prisoners to keep some, if not all, of any compensation payment". If victims were not identifiable, did not lodge a claim or were considered to have not "suffered enough", the prisoner would get to keep some or all of the money.

- NZPA