Written By:
Natwatch - Date published:
11:36 am, July 29th, 2015 - 27 comments
Categories: prisons, spin, you couldn't make this shit up -
Tags: lies, private prisons, serco
“One of the claims that had been made, I think, was that someone had been thrown off a balcony – in fact, actually, Serco say that the person jumped off the balcony, or tripped, or fell.
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The current rise of populism challenges the way we think about people’s relationship to the economy.We seem to be entering an era of populism, in which leadership in a democracy is based on preferences of the population which do not seem entirely rational nor serving their longer interests. ...
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And if someone jumps to get away from an attacker, isn’t that legally similar to the attacker dropping the victim in the first place?
“Serco say that the person jumped off the balcony, or tripped, or fell.”
That they don’t know, and haven’t found out, speaks volumes. No cameras in Mt Eden?
Yesterday i thought I heard the guy who “fell” speaking on RNZ (or am I mixing up the incidents?)
This chap said he was attacked, saw it coming and tried to run, got caught, beaten, and was punched so hard it took him over the balcony (this is my recollection only), he said it took some time for an officer to reach him and if he hadn’t he feels he would be dead now. he said Mt Eden is not conudcive to reporting incidents of violence.
Here is Andrew Litteton, the prisoner, speaking
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/201764034/details-emerge-from-prisoner-whose-legs-were-broken
Here’s is his mum Lorraine Pehi-Littleton – she is extremely compelling – fighting to protect her son
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/201764035/corrections-considers-legal-options-over-prison-scandal
No need for that sort of CSI style analysis.
First rule of prison: Dont nark on fellow prisoners to the screws. Even if they have bashed you.
+100 to this
its the first rule of prison, NO narks/grasses
You will know soon enough. It has to be on video.
“Mr Littleton said when he and his wife asked about security cameras they were told by Serco there were none in that area, which they also found surprising.”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/279553/inmate%27s-father-says-serco-should-go
odd, seeing as they have 1300 cctv cameras
http://www.google.co.nz/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=13&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CDwQFjACOApqFQoTCND8gO658sYCFYMupgodQzMD4Q&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.parliament.nz%2Fresource%2Fen-nz%2F50SCLO_ADV_00DBHOH_BILL11157_1_A242780%2Ffef31f3fac5be94569b3508eb987d299520d7205&ei=2H6xVdCwE4PdmAXD5oyIDg&usg=AFQjCNGAooF0JWnBdVENhTn62twquIp6Kg&bvm=bv.98476267,d.dGY
Well, that’s not really acceptable is it?
I had less polite phrasing pass my lips when I first saw it
Does the statement by Serco that there is no video of the incident, despite there being 1300 cameras on site, change your opinion of the situation in any way?
Yes – this is a bad incident. But sadly something that does happen in other prisons as well – along with beatings, smuggled phones and rape.
Kelvin Davis said there was a practice known as “dropping”. But as usual uses the labour “I have it on good information” line as opposed to backing it up.
There has been no evidence of “dropping” being a practice that has been ongoing – a single incidence does not a practice make.
This is a beatup on Serco – for sure they can do things better – but we should compare against state prisions as well and hold them to the same standard.
Throwing people of the top decks is something that has been going on in prisons for a looooooong time
Ive yet to meet anyone more adept at finding innovative ways to hurt each other than prison in-mates
We’ve got two incidents of accused dropping at Serco’s Mt Eden, where are the accusations that it’s happening in our other prisons?
why do you think they have the safety nets in the older style prison buildings ?
not every incident of violence is reported to the public
Nope, just the ones at Serco run prisons it seems..
Thats the trouble with having a legal contract that includes these things.
If you try to lie with the numbers it will catch you in the bum.
They have admitted they are out of their depth- “its a hard prison to run” so I suppose we are back to a novopay situation, they will be paid to hand it all back to the taxpayer.
we were told they could run the prisons better not the same. But then more staff would eat into their profit
The minimum balustrade/barrier height according to the building code is 0.9m high for stairways in homes and 1.1 metres high for other buildings, all to stop people from accidental falling.
The handrail in that prison looks to be around 1.3-1.5 metres high. The building code would need to be drastically changed if accidental falling is possible from this barrier height.
http://www.building.govt.nz/UserFiles/File/Publications/Building/Compliance-documents/F4-safety-from-falling.pdf (see the table on page.13)
I think it’s fair to insist all new private contractors to former State run services sign a 90 day probation agreement. If anything goes wrong inside 90 days, they lose the contract with no compensation and no reasons required for termination – no exceptions. As an employer, the NZ people cannot afford to be messed around by incompetent private contractors in the core services of their nation.
Please join with me in holding our collective breath until National and Labour embrace this fair, ideologically pure, and “innovative” strategy to improve the quality of our state services.
He gets a leg up by standing on the pile of lies?
He gets a leg up by standing on the pile of lies?
To spell it out for the cheap seats (intellectual cheap seats are the only ones tories are eager to be seen in), this lie is not about just one incident. Part of tugger’s lie is to partially explain away one incident so that apologists can then say “Throwing people of the top decks is something that has been going on in prisons for a looooooong time ” or “Yes – this is a bad incident. But sadly something that does happen in other prisons as well”.
The problem isn’t that there were fights in a prison, or that phones were smuggled in, or video posted to youtube, or even that the prison management seem to have suppressed required reporting and swept the problems under the rug.
The problem is that ALL of these things were happening in a single prison at the same time and that this strongly indicates that Serco completely surrendered control of their facility to the inmates. I suspect that the only reason gang members weren’t walking out the front door (or tunneling out like el chapo) is that the facility was far too useful to them as a networking hub, recruitment centre, and training ground.
This post points out that rather than being accountable for his fucked-in-the-head decisions that led to this situation, prime minister dunnokeyo tries to distract with bullshit speculation about a single incident.
i think it was cheaper that way
That three option scenario tells me that Serco don’t know what happened and therefore the PM is hiding behind their ignorance or he’s made it up himself.
Knowing Key’s careful use of words that give him wriggle room, the description of Serco that one option was he fell, then strictly they are accurate because anyone who plummets from a height, whether pushed, thrown, shoved or defenestrated, actually ‘falls’.
So again we are told nothing as to the cause of the ‘falling’. Was it accidental? Was it deliberate?
The most amazing aspects of this are:
1. If you work in any reasonable size company they are constantly reviewing your performance. (“Inspect what you expect.”) But our so-called business minded government let’s Serco write their own performance reviews and then pays them bonuses.
2. In business, if you waste your budget you go bust. Exception: NZ charter schools. This business minded government gives them MORE money!
Labour, Greens, NZ First, this is the performance review you should be giving National.
+1
The management of prisons and the trend towards private sector management has never gone well here or offshore. Here’s a timely documentary on what’s occurring back in the UK and those like Serco, that are profiting from punishment…