Warning over youth prison plans

By ABIGAIL CASPARI in Rotorua
The mother of murdered Rotorua woman Tanya Burr is warning Rotorua people to keep a "close eye" on plans for a youth prison in the district.

Val Burr, who was chairwoman of the Kelvin Grove Residents' Association which unsuccessfully opposed the building of the Lower North Justice Facility in an industrial area of Palmerston North in 1998, is advising against taking Child Youth and Family at their word.

Ms Burr's comments come after Child Youth and Family last week announced plans to build a youth prison on a rural property, possibly in Rotorua.

CYF is looking for seven to 10 hectares in Rotorua, South Waikato, Matamata-Piako or the outskirts of Hamilton.

Ms Burr also disagreed with claims by Rotorua lawyer Harry Edward that there had been no escapes from youth justice facilities. She claimed at least five youths had escaped from the youth prison in Palmerston North within the past 12 months, including one who was charged with murder.

Three of the escapers trashed a service station.

"These kids were not even discovered to be missing for some time - meaning they were roaming our suburb and its neighbour for hours before that."

The youth who killed her daughter in September 2002, John Wharekura, was held in the Palmerston North facility, less than 1km from Ms Burr's home where her daughter's funeral was to be held.

After Ms Burr protested he was moved to a youth justice facility in Christchurch.

In a letter to The Daily Post, Ms Burr claimed a community liaison committee set up to deal with issues involving the prison did not include members of the neighbouring community.

Building a youth justice facility in Rotorua would "not be a bad thing," she said.

However, she urged people to make sure they were informed and if there was a community liaison committee set up that its members lived in the area closest to the site of the prison. "People need to be involved. You have to hold the operators to account."

Ms Burr described some of the youths in the facility in Palmerston North as "lethal" and claimed there had been incidents where the offenders had been "running the place".

"If they won't behave in the outside world they are not necessarily going to behave in there."



Ken Rand, manager of residences for Child Youth and Family, confirmed that since 2001 there had been eight escapes from the Palmerston North facility.

Since 2002, 25 youths had escaped from the Christchurch facility and 68 from the Northern Residential Centre at Weymouth in Auckland which was no longer operating.

There had been no escapes from Youth Justice North in Manakau since it opened just over a year ago.

Mr Rand said improvements had since been made to the facilities, and the proposed new facility had a different design to the one in Palmerston North.

The new design would include additional security and a different way of managing the accommodation of offenders.

The Government had recognised the need for more youth justice beds, and it was "clearly unacceptable" that many young people remanded in custody had to be held in police cells, next to adult offenders.

Mr Edward agreed.

"There is a particular need when dealing with young people to make sure their welfare is maintained," he said.