Prisoners view violent movies

Inmates are still viewing violent and sexually explicit R-rated movies despite clear instructions from Corrections Minister Damien O'Connor earlier this year that the practice was to stop.

The latest prison movie playlist includes titles like Bad Boys 2, Resident Evil 2, Crash, Payback, Devil's Child, Good Thief, LA Confidential, Dawn of the Dead, Lethal Weapon 4 and Monster, all of which have R-16 or R-18 classifications.

Other questionable movie titles on show in the country's 19 prisons include Criminal Mind, New Alcatraz, Nico Above The Law, Steal - Feel the Rush, Fast and the Furious, Heist and Time To Kill.

Under Corrections policy, R-rated movies are supposed to be banned, yet there are more than 60 on the prison movie playlist.

In February, National's law and order spokesman Simon Power challenged O'Connor over the prison movie playlist after he was told that inmates had seen R-rated titles like Getting Away with Murder, Interview with the Assassin, Wild Things 2, and Sex and Lucia.

At the time, O'Connor told Parliament he did not believe those movies were appropriate.

"The policy in this area has been breached, and the staff have been told again that it is not acceptable.

"Staff will be reminded about the policy, and we will endeavour to prevent it ever happening again."

However, eight months on, inmates are still watching many of the same titles O'Connor deemed unacceptable, plus dozens of others which Power claims also fall into the same category.

Monster, for example, tells the story of notorious female serial killer Aileen Wuornos, who was executed after murdering seven men in Florida.

O'Connor told the Herald on Sunday yesterday that since being made aware of the prison playlist he had spoken directly to Corrections Department chief executive Barry Matthews and had sought an assurance that restricted titles would no longer be screened.

While disappointed that his earlier instruction had not been carried out, he said in the overall scheme of things the situation was "relatively minor".

Power said it was "very concerning" that at a time when violent crime was increasing, Corrections was still letting prisoners watch movies containing violence, kidnapping, extortion, murder and jail breaks.

"It is clear Damien O'Connor has not followed through on his undertaking to the House.

"It is completely unsatisfactory for prisoners to be exposed to these sorts of movies when violent crime is rising to very worrying levels, and as the department cuts work schemes, and many of its rehabilitation programmes are not living up to expectation," Power said.