Hardline group to join minister on European prison trip

Garth McVicar

Corrections Minister Damien O'Connor is a fan of a hardline tougher sentencing lobby group, it has been revealed.

Mr O'Connor will leave tomorrow on a two-week fact-finding trip to Europe, leading a delegation that will visit prisons in Britain, Finland and the Netherlands -- looking at alternative approaches to try and bring down New Zealand's high imprisonment rate.

Included in that delegation will be the head of the Sensible Sentencing Trust, Garth McVicar.

The trust, which advocates a tough line on crime and sentencing, has often been at odds with the Labour-led Government, which it sees as far too lenient.

But Mr McVicar said today that Mr O'Connor had personally called him soon after his election to Cabinet.

"Just out of the blue he rang and said who he was, that he was the minister of corrections and that he did not know a lot about the new job, but he was keen to learn and wanted to invite us along on the trip," he told NZPA.

Mr McVicar said he did not know why Mr O'Connor had specifically asked him on the trip, but he had expressed some support for the trust's ideas.

"He just said basically that he has considerable agreement with what the trust has been saying and he would like to invite us along."

Mr McVicar said it would be strange travelling with the representative of a political party the trust had frequently opposed, but he agreed with the aim of the trip -- to look at alternatives to try and bring down crime and recidivism rates.

"I think the whole social-liberal experiment we've tried in the past 30 years has failed miserably."

The Sensible Sentencing Trust has repeatedly called for an end to parole, full life sentences for serious offenders, and revision of the law to completely strip inmates of the right to seek compensation for mistreatment.

Mr O'Connor yesterday said he hoped the trip would offer fresh ideas to help New Zealand bring down its extremely high rate of imprisonment, which has led to an overflow of inmates from prisons into police and court cells.

"New Zealand has a higher per capita prison population than many comparable countries.

"This visit will give me and my delegation the opportunity to view innovative ways to manage offenders, while at the same time ensuring the community is protected from violent offenders."

National Party law and order spokesman Simon Power has criticised the trip, saying Mr O'Connor should not be travelling overseas when the prisons system was facing big problems at home.

"That trip can be done at any time but the prison crisis cannot wait," Mr Power said.

"There are some very urgent problems to attend to at home, and he should not be off junketing around the world while they remain."

Mr Power has criticised the Government's inability to house all inmates in prisons, and blowouts in the costs of building new prisons.

- NZPA