The Government was not considering re-opening the recently decomissioned Dunedin Prison, Corrections Minister Damien O'Connor said today.
But, he had asked officials to give him the "options" for the prison site before the Government considered selling it to Ngai Tahu.
The Otago Daily Times today reported officials struggling
to find beds for prisoners were not ruling out reopening the former prison.
The newspaper said that in the latest edition of Corrections News, the department's magazine, the future of the former prison was said to be undecided "and it may be reopened to help deal with rising prisoner numbers".
Acting assistant operations general manager Karen Urwin told the newspaper no decisions had been made about the prison's future use.
National MP Simon Power today said that only two months ago the Department of Corrections had held an "extensive" de-comissioning ceremony for the 111-year-old prison, involving blessings, tapu lifting, and flute playing.
He said it was considering re-opening it as a working prison but Mr O'Connor denied that.
"The Government is not considering re-opening the prison... However, I have asked for a number of options to be put before me before we consider selling the prison site back to Ngai Tahu. That is sensible for me to do that," Mr O'Connor told Parliament.
The Government had built more than 2100 extra prison cells during its term in power and was looking at all options, he said.
Mr Power said a March budget paper stated the effective interventions initiatives had allowed ministers to avoid decisions on 800 additional beds over the five-year period to 2011.
The prison population was now at the level it had been forecast to be in 2011, he said.
Green Party MP Metiria Turei said her party acknowledged the need for more beds due to overcrowding but it was "horrifying" to think the department thought Dunedin Prison might be an option.
"The conditions inside are appalling. The exercise yard is complete inadequate, visiting families have no option but to crowd into a tiny and poorly equipped room, there are no toilets for visitors to use. If kids need to use the bathroom while visiting their dad, they have to walk to the railway station down the road," she said.
Conditions for staff were hardly any better at the prison she called a "museum piece".
- NZPA
