National MP and Rangitīkei candidate Ian McKelvie has visited most prisons in New Zealand during his time in Parliament as a member of the law and order select committee.
In this Local Focus video McKelvie says both he and Opposition leader Judith Collins were aware of problems in the justice process. But by the end of their term New Zealand had one of the highest prison populations in the developed world.
"I think the key to tidying up our prison system is to make sure that we send people out of the prisons with a much better level of education," McKelvie said. "Many of them struggle to read and write, and that's probably why they get to prison to some extent."