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Scandals lead to end of British firm's management of New Zealand jail

Xinhua, December 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

The New Zealand government was urged Wednesday to abandon its policy of privatizing prisons after the announcement that it will end its contract with a scandal-racked British prison company.

The Department of Corrections announced it had decided against renewing its contract with Serco to manage Auckland's Mount Eden Corrections Facility (MECF), the country's busiest remand prison.

Department chief executive Ray Smith said in a statement he had decided to end the contract in March 2017.

The department resumed responsibility for the prison in July after serious allegations involving injured prisoners, the emergence of "fight club" videos showing prisoners in organized fights, and drug use.

Corrections Minister Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga who will relinquish the portfolio in a Cabinet reshuffle to take effect next week, said he fully supported the decision.

"This decision not to renew the contract will allow the department to consider changes to the management contract that will ensure it is run safely and effectively," Lotu-Iiga said in a statement.

Serco Asia Pacific chief executive Mark Irwin told Radio New Zealand the prison had "fundamentally changed" since the contract was signed in 2010.

"Its population, movements and security profile are all markedly different from those set out in the documents provided to tenderers six years ago, and in the contract itself. It clearly makes sense to reconsider the delivery model for the operations of MECF," said Irwin.

Serco continues to manage Wiri Prison in South Auckland under another 25-year contract with the government, a contract opposition lawmakers and unions want ended.

The end of the MECF contract proved the privatization of prisons had been an "abysmal failure," the main opposition Labour Party said.

Labour corrections spokesperson Kelvin Davis said Serco had a shocking track record of understaffing, escapes and human rights violations at prisons in the United Kingdom and detention centers in Australia.

"They are no longer welcome in New Zealand," Davis said in a statement.

The Public Service Association (PSA) union said the government needed to promise that prisons would remain in public hands, along with the other crucial public services.

"Trying to profit from human misery is morally reprehensible, and does not work. Public services exist for the public good," PSA national secretary Erin Polaczuk said in a statement. Endit