The National Party won’t sit idly by while the violence in our prisons and the number of assaults on corrections officers continues to increase, National’s Corrections spokesperson Simeon Brown says.

National has today launched a five point plan to help reduce the violence experienced in our prisons.

“Under Labour there has been a 92 per cent increase on prisoner assaults on corrections officers and a 30 per cent increase in prisoner on prisoner assaults.

“Reports show that this year not only were multiple officers punched by prisoners, one was stabbed with an improvised weapon, and another had hot water thrown at their face. The number of corrections officers requiring medical treatment from assaults has increased by an alarming 80 since 2017.

“Clearly our prisons are a dangerous work environment, we should be doing all we can to make sure the safety of our corrections officers is prioritised, and those who assault corrections officers are held to account.”

National’s plan includes:

· Requiring mandatory reporting of assaults to Police

· Reforming the disciplinary regime

· Creating a frontline safety improvement programme

· Making sure PPE is fit for purpose

· Trialling the use of tasers

“The National Party backs our corrections staff and wouldn’t tolerate assaults in our prisons. We’ve put together a plan that will go some way to reducing the amount of violence being experienced in our prisons.

“Our corrections officers put their lives in danger every day, we owe it to them to make sure their workplace is as safe as possible.”

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