No change to sentencing without public support, says minister

Corrections Minister Damien O'Connor says he wants public backing for any changes to sentencing laws.

He has just returned from Europe where he studied "open prison" systems for low-level offenders, and believes New Zealand could benefit from them.

"For a country that prides itself on being clean, green and a wonderful place... having the second highest imprisonment rate in the Western world is a disgrace," he said today.

"We've got to do something about it."

Mr O'Connor is going to prepare a discussion document based on his findings in Britain, the Netherlands and Finland. It will be for his cabinet colleagues and the public.

"It's really important for the public to buy into this," he said on National Radio.

"In Finland they made progress because they got a consensus, and an accord between all the political parties. The public and the media had more confidence in where they were heading."

Mr O'Connor took with him Garth McVicar from the hardline Sensible Sentencing Trust and Kim Workman, the former deputy justice secretary who heads the liberal Prison Fellowship.

They saw prison systems where inmates serving relatively short sentences were allowed home one weekend a month and were paid for work carried out during their sentences.

Mr McVicar and Mr Workman, although they are from different ends of the spectrum, have both said the systems could work in New Zealand.

Mr O'Connor said Finland had drastically reduced its prison population over the past 30 years without compromising public safety, and the recidivism rate had improved.

"We've had an escalating prison population here, the system is under pressure, and we're spending nearly $1 billion on new prisons," the minister said.

"We now have the opportunity to look at more creative ways of reducing the prison population over time, or not seeing it get bigger."

New Zealand's imprisonment rate is second only to the United States.

It is running above estimates, and on Monday the prison muster was 7524.

- NZPA