KEY POINTS:
The father of a teenager bashed and strangled to death in a prison van hopes a report due to be released today will mean something positive comes from his son's death.
Liam Ashley, 17, died last August when he was beaten and strangled by another prisoner on the
way to Mt Eden Remand Prison in Auckland.
Chief Ombudsman John Belgrave's investigation into prisoner transport done by or for the Corrections Department will be tabled in Parliament today.
Liam Ashley's father Ian today said the government had to accept responsibility and allocate appropriate funds to ensure the safety of all New Zealanders within the justice system.
"All policies need to be changed to state that youth must be kept separate at all times, which I believe has been done. All policies need to change to ensure that all violent criminals be kept separate at all times also -- completely segregated," he told Radio New Zealand today.
Mr Ashley said Corrections had to have direct accountability in all areas -- "don't let them split the responsibility, as in the case with the Chubb contractors".
It has been reported that Chubb, which transports prisoners for Corrections, wanted to opt out of its contract.
Mr Ashley said penal transfer vehicles had to be properly equipped for prisoner safety, and designed so security guards could stop and deal with any issues when required.
"(There should be) none of this if they think there's something going on, basically they don't have the power to stop, or they don't want to stop. This could have saved my son's life."
Mr Ashley said security guards should not be given the autonomy to make a non-qualified judgemental call on whether a prisoner is behaving appropriately, "especially if their documentation says to keep them separate".
He said he hoped some good would come out of the report being tabled today.
"There is some truth that needs to come out of the whole situation and some of those truths will come out today."
Since Liam Ashley's death, another prisoner who had asked to be segregated from others was badly beaten by four others when they were in a van in April.
- NZPA
