Working in a prison is a dangerous job and National is very grateful to those New Zealanders who work in our prisons and keep the rest of New Zealand safe. Unfortunately, we have seen our prisons become more and more violent over recent years.

Over the past three years prisoner assaults on Corrections Officers have increased by 92 per cent, despite a significant drop in the prison population. Prisoners are becoming more violent simply because they are not held to account for their actions.

Reports show that this year not only were multiple officers punched by prisoners, but one was also stabbed with an improvised weapon, and another had hot water thrown at their face. The number of corrections officers requiring medical treatment from assaults has increased by an alarming 80 since 2017.

The majority of people serving a prison sentence are violent offenders. National wants to make sure our Corrections Officers have the tools they need to keep themselves and other prisoners safe. We will not tolerate the levels of violence Corrections Officers are currently experiencing. Clearly changes need to be made.

The National Party has put forward five policies that would go some way to reducing the amount of violence in our prisons and making sure our prison staff have the tools they need to do their job properly. With these changes National will make sure offenders are held to account for their actions, and our Corrections Officers are better equipped to continue working in a safer environment.

National will not tolerate Corrections Officers being assaulted at the levels they are currently. National will hold offenders to account and better equip our Corrections Officers to keep them safe on the job.

National’s plan includes:

• Requiring mandatory reporting of assaults to Police
• Reforming the disciplinary regime
• Creating a frontline safety improvement programme
• Making sure PPE is fit for purpose
• Trialling the use of tasers

The National Party backs our corrections staff and wouldn’t tolerate assaults in our prisons. We’ve put together a plan that will go some way to reducing the amount of violence being experienced in our prisons.

Our corrections officers put their lives in danger every day, we owe it to them to make sure their workplace is as safe as possible.

You can read our five point plan policy doc here.