Jails policy a disgrace, Government told

The Government estimates prisoner numbers could rise to 9000 within five years. Picture / Brett Phibbs

The Law Commission has warned the Government it needs to overhaul the way it imprisons and paroles criminals, just four years after the latest revamp of sentencing laws.

The commission, an independent Crown entity which advises on law reform, denied it was criticising the 2002 reforms to sentencing and parole. But a speech by deputy president Warren Young to a law and order conference in Wellington at the weekend painted a bleak picture of a justice system in crisis.

Describing the number of New Zealanders in jail as a national shame, Dr Young said that in July 2002, when the new sentencing laws were introduced, 5800 New Zealanders were in prison. This week it was 7530.

"We are on a treadmill where harsher levels [of sentencing] seem to be steadily and inexorably increasing," Dr Young said.

"We need to get off that treadmill because if we stay on the treadmill then in time it will fundamentally change the structure and nature of New Zealand society in a way that I think none of us would want."

The Government now estimates prisoner numbers could rise to 9000 within five years.

Dr Young said the commission was currently consulting on structural changes to introduce more consistent sentencing, greater truth in sentencing, more predictable outcomes, and more effective management of available resources.

It was considering recommending a sentencing council to produce guidelines for the Judiciary on jail terms.

Dr Young later told the Herald that the 2002 reforms had not been designed to address the issues he had raised.

"For example, with parole, they are problems that have been there for a long time and weren't produced by the 2002 reforms.

"Equally the problems with sentencing existed long before 2002 as well. We're just saying we need to build on that and address these other deficiencies the 2002 legislation didn't address."

Justice Minister Mark Burton told the conference the 2002 reforms had spelled out the Government's intention towards the most serious criminals - that they needed to be imprisoned for the public's safety.

However, he conceded that judges might need clearer sentencing guidelines and was awaiting the commission's report on the issue.

"If we are serious about controlling the growth in the prison population we will also need to grapple with and debate some difficult questions. In particular, how long should people spend in prison for specific crimes?"

Corrections Minister Damien O'Connor told the conference that New Zealand's imprisonment rate was "shamefully high" and money spent on prisons could be better spent on schools, hospitals and rehabilitation programmes.

Alternative sentences to imprisonment which made a meaningful impact on criminals would be more constructive than brief jail terms, he said.

The conference, organised by the Prison Fellowship, ended with a call for a multi-party accord on prison and criminal justice issues, and with the proposal to creation a coalition of interested groups to speak publicly on crime and justice issues.