DOUBLE OR QUITS

Now we here at Roarprawn know a bit about jails - it was a few years back but we spent four years working in a medium security facility that had about 15 murders and about 40 sex offenders in segregation. At lot of them at that time were roomies.

So the news that the gov't is thinking about getting inmates to be housed two to a cell is bloody good . Now undoubtedly the prison officers union will screech long and loud about how dangerous this is but thats crap. There is no evidence that giving inmates a roomy is going to make them more violent. There are many people living in the community who do not have the luxury of their own room so why should it be considered necessary for prisoners to have their own room???


The move has been endorsed by the Sensible Sentencing Trust according to the NBR

Corrections Minister Judith Collins said in the interim National would house the extra inmates in existing prisons.

She said one possible solution was double bunking -- putting two prisoners in a cell -- The Dominion Post newspaper reported today.

She said she had received an assurance from Corrections Department chief executive Barry Matthews that the department would house extra prisoners within its existing infrastructure.

Double bunking has already been used in some prisons as inmate numbers exploded over the past three years, but the largest prison officer union, the Corrections Association, says it leads to increased violence among inmates, making prisons harder to manage.

Some justice groups say the potential increase in violent and sexual assaults make double bunking impractical and inhumane.

However, Sensible Sentencing Trust spokesman Garth McVicar today said double bunking was a good interim solution.

"We've got to get back to basics, where prison is a deterrent," he told NZPA.

"It's a place where people don't want to come back to. At present it seems to be a place people volunteer to go to."

Its a fantastic idea. Well done Judith. We like the cut of her jib.