'Goon squad' probe may lead to independent jail watchdog

Pressure to set up an independent watchdog of prisons is mounting after an inquiry into the notorious "goon squad" said the Senior Inspector of Prisons had compromised his independence.

Queen's Counsel Ailsa Duffy's harsh criticisms of the Department of Corrections' senior inspector Grenville Bell have prompted Corrections Minister Paul Swain to say he will review who makes sure prisons are operating lawfully.

He has described the rogue unit of Canterbury prisoner officers, dubbed the goon squad, as "acting like something out of a B-grade cop show", adding some of its antics - which strangely included using officers to go outside a prison to chase a squad member's lost rooster - as "almost unbelievable".

Mr Swain, who will report to Cabinet later this year, said a review of complaints procedures would include whether the Department of Corrections should be stripped of its in-house prison inspectorate.

Being touted is a stand-alone body, which might replace the oversight of both the inspectorate and some work of the Office of the Ombudsmen, and which would be similar to the Police Complaints Authority, which monitors the police.

Last year the Government moved to create a more independent Inspector of Security and Intelligence, after former inspector Laurie Greig's ill-advised remarks about Algerian Ahmed Zaoui led a court to rule he might be seen as biased.

A possible overhaul of how prisons are monitored comes as the Government plans to pass a law weakening prisoners' rights to compensation even if they are abused by the state.

That has prompted both New Zealand First and the Green Party to urge the Government to make sure its own house is in order before legislating away a person's human rights.

NZ First MP Ron Mark said any new watchdog of prisons must be outside the control of the Department of Corrections.

He said no senior managers at the department had been held accountable for the actions of the squad.

"As much as I might loathe and detest rapists and murderers ... in a free and democratic and humane society, you cannot remove the rights of men and women incarcerated, in the care of the state, to protest their denial of rights or abuses."

Greens' justice spokesman Nandor Tanczos last year pressed for an independent watchdog when new Department of Corrections laws were introduced.

He said the problems with the goon squad showed there were no clear objectives for it when it was established, and no accountability when things went wrong.

"That's the culture we really need to put an end to," he said.

In Ms Duffy's report on the department's handling of complaints about the squad, released by the State Services Commission before Christmas, she was highly critical of Mr Bell and his goon squad inquiry. She said the law meant the senior inspector had control of his own inquiries.