Kelvin Davis says Gutting of prison jobs a gift to private prison provider

Today’s announcement that sections of three prisons are to be closed is the thin end of the wedge for the privatisation of the country’s prison service, says Labour’s  Corrections spokesperson Kelvin Davis. It’s estimated that 260 prison officers will lose their jobs and these are officers that have been trained at the taxpayer’s expense. “What makes it worse is that these closures are to justify the existence of the new private prison at Wiri. “Serco the owners of Wiri will now be laughing all the way to the bank. They will now be able to hire the officers that will be laid off. “This means that 20 per cent of our prison population will now be housed in private facilities. “I suspect this makes the goal of getting a 25 per cent reduction in reoffending even more difficult . “The proposed changes are simply a gift to a private prison,” says Kelvin Davis. —  ]]>