TVNZ accused of delaying prison show because of election

Rimutaka prison. File picture / Mark Mitchell

TVNZ is facing claims it dropped a prison reality TV show amid fears it would show viewers how "cushy" prison life was in an election year.

The state broadcaster commissioned Locked Down, a 13-part series on life at Wellington's Rimutaka Prison. It was to have started screening in April, the Dominion Post reports today.

The 30-minute programme, made by Screentime production company, features interviews with inmates about prison life, the crimes they committed and their rehabilitation.

The shows also outline prison conditions, including inmates having televisions and stereos in their cells.

But TVNZ has delayed the series' debut several times and there are now claims it is due to concerns it shows how "cushy" prison life is in the run-up to the general election.

Locked Down director Sean Duffy said he could not understand why the series had not screened.

"The bottom line is if they're not putting something to air because of an election ... I don't think that's right.

"Has the Government suggested that they wouldn't want it to go to air -- or is it TVNZ taking it upon themselves to act in an incredibly paranoid matter about it? I don't know."

Duffy said the programme, which involved him and a cameraman living on the prison grounds for 19 weeks, had no political agenda and merely showed prison conditions for what they were. "We just recorded and edited what actually happened.

"There was one inmate who said 'Compared to America this is a Butlins holiday camp'. We just filmed them as it was."

Screentime chief executive Ross Jennings said December was the most recent proposed screening date and he was "mystified" and "frustrated" at the continued delays.

Although it was TVNZ's prerogative to decide when to screen it "I can only assume, and I do, that it has something to do with the upcoming election".

National MP Tony Ryall said it was obvious that TVNZ had decided to protect the Government.

"You've got the state broadcaster shielding its political master by not exposing viewers to a taxpayer-funded programme that shows what is going on in prisons, with inmates not doing any work, watching television and not getting any rehabilitation."

TVNZ spokeswoman Zara Potts said it was not uncommon for programme schedules to change, but a pending general election did not affect documentaries' content.

"I have not heard any talk of that and I very much doubt that is the case," she said. "There's often a number of different reasons about why something may be scheduled and then moved. It can be quite fluid and I know that's frustrating for producers but that's the nature of the business."

- nzpa