There is no wonder corrections officers have lost confidence in Minister Kelvin Davis when his focus lies in creating inter-prison competitions and not on keeping his staff safe, National’s Corrections spokesperson Simeon Brown says.

“Establishing inter-prison competitions should not be the priority right now.

“Prisoner assaults on corrections officers have increased by 92 per cent and the Minister has done nothing to address this.

“Staff are sick and tired of seeing Mr Davis support and advocate for prisoners while ignoring corrections staff, they’ve rightly had enough.

“There are already growing calls for a vote of no confidence in Mr Davis, hearing the news today that once again the Minister has put prisoners ahead of his own corrections staff will be a kick in the guts.

“Our corrections officers put their lives on danger every day to keep the rest of the country safe, the amount of violence they are facing in prisons has spiralled out of control under Labour.

“Mr Davis has clearly decided prisoners deserve more attention and care than our corrections officers. He’s more focused on making sure prisoners enjoy their stay in prison than keeping our corrections officers safe.

“The National Party backs our corrections staff and wouldn’t tolerate assaults in our prisons.”