Floyd du Plessis: Corrections Association President on the lack of capacity in the face of the Government's sentencing law reforms

There’s uncertainty over whether Corrections has capacity, with more prisoners on the way.  

The Government's sentencing law reforms will mean longer sentences and up to 1700 more inmates every year.  

Corrections Association's Floyd du Plessis says the prisons are currently full, and while there are more beds in theory, they aren't adequately staffed for them yet.  

He told Mike Hosking that more applications are coming through for corrections roles, but the number of viable candidates isn't where it needs to be.  

du Plessis says there needs to be more focus on getting real people through the door and into employment. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Tougher sentences on the way for the courts forty percent
sentence reduction cap New aggravating factors that will increase sentences
potentially includes offenses against people working alone, that's your dairies,
those whose home and businesses are attached. Change is set
to increase. They think the prison population by somewhere between
about fourteen hundred ish to seventeen hundred ish annually for
the next ten years. Corrections Association President Floyd Duplas's backward

(00:23):
Floyd morning, Good morning. Are you looking to be inundated
with new prisoners do you think? Or we just don't know.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
We definitely expect a increase. Will it be as large
as that?

Speaker 1 (00:36):
We just don't know unless they build new spaces. Are
you full?

Speaker 2 (00:42):
We are currently full with what's open. So there is
ran another two thousand beds in theory available, but we're
not staffed for it as yet.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Okay. And staffing and recruitment, I think Mark Mitchell was
in front of somebody last week in the Scrutiny Week thing.
He said there's a lot of applications. Recruitment's going reasonably well.
Is that true or not?

Speaker 2 (01:04):
There are a lot of applications. One of the concerns
we still have is while having a lot of applications
sounds good, how many of those applications of viable candidates
and actually go through to employment? And that number has improved,
but it's definitely not as high as it needs to be.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
So that campaign seems to on the surface anyway, to
have worked. The big ag campaign that's run about being
a corrections officer.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, so the recent campaign, they definitely did improve things.
It gave a slightly more honest opinion on the fact
that staff do do things. So it has helped and
has improved. What we do need though, is we need
a bit more of a focus on getting real people
in through the door and into employment.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
What interesting me about the debate we're having at the moment.
I mean, you get more prisoners, what are we doing
in this country? Are we doing that to put them
away to rehab them so they don't go back again,
or are we just simply putting them away to sober
problem for now? What's your view?

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Unfortunately historically we just put them away to solve the problem.
It's something that does need a massive overhall. I know
the Minister has stated that he's got a big focus
on that and to improve the access two programs and
meaningful change. So that is something that they have committed
to work on, but it is a piece of work

(02:23):
that absolutely is needed. We have a history of putting
people in, pretending to rehab them and then sending them
out and it's a ritis cycle. And so yes, it
is something needs a massive focus.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
If you stuck me in prison today and I want
to be rehabbed, can I be and successfully and will? No?

Speaker 2 (02:41):
There is only a very small portion of the population
that does get meaningful rehab and a change. But it
is a very small portion and that's the problem. It
needs to be a far more widespread and it needs
to be more targeted to the reality of what jobs
are out there. So giving some of our program it
says how you need to be you're nicer person. It's
all going well, but we need to give them skills

(03:04):
and training and areas where they will get employment and
that's the big change that is needed.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
All right, Bloyd, appreciate your INSIGHTE Floyd douplus Ce Corrections Association,
New Zealand Prison For more from News Talks b listen
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