KEY POINTS:
A damning report into the transportation of prisoners is a fitting tribute to murder victim Liam Ashley, his family has said.
The report by Chief Ombudsman John Belgrave and Ombudsman Mel Smith was instigated after the 17-year-old was battered to death by fellow prisoner George Baker in the back of a prison van in August 2006.
It found the Department of Corrections failed in its fundamental responsibility to keep Liam safe.
Liam's father, Ian Ashley, said the report contained many of the family's suggestions to Corrections and he hoped its recommendations were implemented quickly and not ignored.
"The last 12 hours have been a very positive event in my life and my family's life after the past nearly 12 months (since Liam was killed)," he said.
Now his family is awaiting the release of a Chubb report to Corrections, a police report and a coroner's inquest so it can have closure on the matter, Mr Ashley said.
Mr Belgrave found there was inadequate surveillance in prison vans, a lack of safety afforded to prisoners, and no national procedure for dealing with emergencies.
He said the state had a duty of care towards prisoners, and any failure to comply with that duty exposed Corrections and the Crown to legal action by any prisoner who suffered as a result.
Many vehicles used to transport prisoners were unsatisfactory for the task, the report said.
Achievable national standards for prisoner transport vehicles needed to be set and Chubb - the firm contracted to carry out prisoner transport - needed to comply with those standards, it said.
Staff transporting prisoners often were not able to adequately watch over them, and previous safety warnings about this were not acted on, the report said.
Prisoner transport should be safe, secure, and humane, but on numerous occasions - especially when prisoners were transported by road - was not, Mr Belgrave said.
Corrections management were also slammed by the report.
"Throughout this investigation we were saddened to find a theme of lack of communication between national office and frontline staff, which has resulted in numerous different practices developing at the frontline," the report said.
"We regard the lack of communication as a major ground for criticism of central management."
The report also criticised the lack of planning for emergencies when transporting prisoners.
"Emergency procedures cannot be uniform given the wide variety of vehicles in use, but we regard the department as having shown a passive attitude to potential problems," Chief Ombudsman John Belgrave and Ombudsman Mel Smith said.
Mr Belgrave was asked at a press conference whether he found conditions inhumane.
"It is a hard call, but taking it all together, in the absence of communication and surveillance, I would incline towards a majority of transport conditions being inhumane. Not all, but a majority. It is a judgment call."
He said his comment related in particular to road transport. The ombudsmen found no problems with transporting prisoners on aeroplanes.
They have made wide-ranging recommendations to the Government, which responded on the release of their report by saying it would implement them all.
Mr Belgrave said he and Mr Smith approached their investigation on the premise that prisoner transport should be safe, secure and humane. He said they were "surprised" at what they found.
"We concluded that the designs of many prisoner transport vehicles are unsatisfactory from the viewpoint of road safety; prisoners are not provided with seatbelts or other forms of safety restraints and there is no adequate provision or process by which prisoners may be swiftly evacuated in the event of fire or road accident."
He said Corrections staff in vans did not have adequate opportunity for surveillance of prisoners, "rendering it impossible for staff to deal with any problems that may develop in prisoner compartments.
"Many vehicles have no adequate ventilation or temperature control in prisoner compartments. Prisoners may not be provided with adequate water, toilet or rest breaks during journeys of considerable length and these conditions must be considered in the light of the cramped and crowed nature of compartments in prison vans."
Political response
The Corrections Department said it was working to implement "each and every one" of the recommendations included in a damning report on prisoner transportation released by the Ombudsman today.
Corrections Minister Damien O'Connor said the department was working through the recommendations in a "practical and cost-effective way".
But Opposition MPs have called for him to resign, and described the report as a "frightening litany of incompetence and half-truths".
During Parliamentary question time, National leader John Key asked how the Prime Minister could have confidence in Mr O'Connor given the troubled nature of the department's past 18 months.
They included reports of staff corruption, inmates rioting, the murder of Karl Kuchenbecker at the hands of paroled convicted killer Graeme Burton, the death of Liam Ashley, and today's Ombudsman's report.
Two thirds of New Zealanders no longer had confidence in the Corrections Department, Mr Key said.
In response, acting Prime Minister Michael Cullen said he did have confidence in the minister and said the performance of the department would improve, given the recommendations within the report were agreed to or agreed to in principal.
National Party spokesman on Corrections, Simon Power, pointed to criticisms in the report that the department had failed to act on concerns raised by Chubb about prisoner safety in 2005.
Similarly, issues raised by the Ombudsman in a report on prisoner treatment in 2005 had also not elicited a response.
National standards established for prisoner transport in 2004 had later been revoked due to the lack of available resources to meet the requirements. These had not yet been replaced.
"To not have national standards on such vital matters is bad enough, but to then not heed specific warnings on those issues is just plain incompetence."
He said the lack of communication between the department and frontline staff was a clear sign the department was dysfunctional.
Mr O'Connor said a review of the department was under way and would focus on communication throughout all areas of operation.
As a result of the Ombudsman's report he announced that waist restraints would be introduced for prisoners during transport.
He said the step required regulation change and Cabinet approval.
"The default condition will be to restrain all prisoners unless there is a good reason not to, such as a medical condition. I intend to start implementation of waist restraints by the end of August."
The Green Party said the move, announced today by Mr O'Connor, to instal 6000 waist restraints in vans used for prisoner transportation would put prisoners at risk of injury.
Justice spokesman Nandor Tanczos said if the restraints meant locking prisoners' hands to their sides, it was a "dangerous and regressive step".
"Cuffing a prisoner's hands in front...them, as at present, at least allows them to protect their heads in the event of an accident or mishap," he said.
The Ombudsmen's report highlighted proper surveillance as one of the keys to improving safety in prisoner transportation, he said.
The Ombudsmen today declined to comment on the proposal to instal waist restraints.
- Additional reporting NZPA / NEWSTALK ZB
