Amnesty International Report 1995 - New Zealand

Prison officers dismissed in 1993 for alleged ill-treatment of prisoners were not prosecuted. In February New Zealand passed the Human Rights Act, 1993, which replaced the Race Relations Act, 1971, and the Human Rights Commission Act. The new act widened the grounds of unlawful discrimination. For example, the act protects those who have AIDS or HIV infection from discrimination. It also prohibits discrimination based on disability or a person's sexual orientation. Six of the 12 prison officers from Mangaroa Prison who had been dismissed after an official investigation by the Department of Justice in 1993 in connection with ill-treatment of prisoners (see Amnesty International Report 1994) were reinstated to serve at other prisons. The other six officers reportedly opted not to accept new jobs. All of them were reportedly paid lump sums of between $12,000 and $35,000 each. The reinstatements and the money were reported to be part of a secret agreement between the prison officers and the Department of Justice to stop personal grievance actions by officers against their dismissal. However, the Department was reported to have referred the findings of the internal inquiry into ill-treatment in Mangaroa Prison to the police for possible further investigation. In October Amnesty International wrote to the government of Prime Minister James Bolger seeking further information about the reinstatement of the dismissed prison officers from Mangaroa Prison. The organization also asked about the implementation of prison reforms on which the government had embarked. It asked in particular about the recommendations of the Ministerial Inquiry into Management Practices at Mangaroa Prison relating to inmate complaints procedures and training and recruitment of new prison officers. In a reply to Amnesty International in December the Minister of Justice confirmed that six of the 12 former officers from Mangaroa Prison had been reinstated at other prisons and that the remaining six had reached settlements which did not involve their re-employment as prison staff. He also gave details of various reforms which had already been implemented or were planned for 1995 concerning prison inmates' rights and complaints procedures, staff training and recruitment, and management training practices.