January 13, 2021
OPINION: After Waikeria Prison Riot – What Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis must be doing now
Martyn 'Bomber' Bradbury: After the lack of leadership displayed during the Waikeria Prison Riot, Minister Davis must be urgently reviewing the current state of the NZ prison muster.
By kicking the break down of conditions into touch with some bland promises of an internal review announced, Minister Davis must surely be sidestepping the empty assurances from Corrections and be independently reviewing what is actually going on inside our prisons.
It is apparent to anyone watching that Corrections have had staffing issues during Covid which have grown from the occasional weekend breakdown of prison conditions to issues that dragged on for weeks if not months.
The question Minister Davis must urgently have answered is, 'how many other prisons have fallen into the same cycle of internal staffing issues that are creating conditions that are creating the same potential for a riot'.
Minister Davis was fortunate enough to have the Māori Party step up and show leadership by deescalating Waikeria but he was also lucky that the riots didn't spread to other prisons.
One prison riot is unfortunate, two prison riots is careless.
Martyn Bradbury
Editor – TheDailyBlog.nz
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