The Department of Corrections would be better off investing in education programmes for prisoners rather than spending $40,000 on state-of-the-art TVs, according to rehabilitation experts.
Kim Workman, project leader for the Rethinking Crime and Punishment campaign (run by the Prison Fellowship and Salvation Army), said prisoners who serve less than a year do not receive any work-related training, which could help to reduce reoffending.
"Forty percent of prisoners serve less than 12 months and because they serve less than 12 months they don't get any programmes or benefits at all."
"So they are leaving with nothing - a lot of them have drug and alcohol problems that need to be addressed. About 30 percent have mental health issues that need to be addressed. So they leave prison more likely to reoffend.
"There has been a major study done on the effects of imprisonment. The longer people are kept in prison the more likely they are to reoffend when they leave.
"We have to look at ways of dealing with these people outside the prison system," Mr Workman said.
He said the Government should look into programmes to reduce reoffending, and alternative forms of punishment for people sentenced to shorter terms.
"Research now shows if we can normalise the prison experience and challenge people to learn new skills, uplift their education, we've got a better chance of people returning back into the society and not reoffending," he said.
He said the cost of imprisonment was always a matter of public interest, but the $45,000 spent on the LCD screen TVs was small when compared with the $90,000 it costs to keep someone in prison for a year.
"I think most people would agree we would rather see prisoners being actively involved in a recreational activity."
"TV is not active. The problem that we have is there is simply not enough happening in prisons to keep them occupied."
"TV keeps people out of mischief, in the same way it does to kids, but it does not have a lot of benefit."
Corrections Department acting chief executive Phil McCarthy said almost all homes in New Zealand have a television and it is a standard part of the environment.
"The Department therefore doesn't see it as appropriate to deprive prisoners of the opportunity to view television," he said.
Prisoners who wish to have a television in their cells must provide it themselves but the Department does provide some televisions in communal areas, he said.
"Prisoners are locked in their cells for anything upwards of ten hours a day and some have poor literacy levels, which therefore makes television an important outlet," he said.
National Party justice and corrections spokesman Simon Power released figures recently that showed Corrections bought 32 LCD TVs last year at a cost of $40,691, and eight Playstations and 58 games at a cost of $4,682.
He said in a press release that the Corrections Department spent more than $45,000 of taxpayers' money on the latest electronic gear for prisoners, only to then ban some of it.
"Prisoners don't need LCD TVs costing more than $1,000 each. And they certainly didn't need Playstations and games to go with them.
He said it took nearly a year for Corrections to ban the Playstations and games.
"Perhaps if Corrections spent more time getting prisoners into work or training or rehabilitation in preparation for release, they would be making greater inroads into the recidivism rate.
"Corrections Minister Damien O'Connor says they used LCDs for 'safety and security factors', but how can they justify that?
"Normal TVs can be wall-mounted well out of reach, as they are in other prisons, so why not buy them – at about a quarter of the price," Power said.
Prisoner Perks • Under-floor heating. • $11 million worth of landscaping. • Almost uncontrolled use of cellphones. • A huge choice of R-rated videos. • Meals of steak and ice cream as rewards. • Afternoon swimming at the beach. Source: National Party
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