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Prison officers are in demand

By Lawrence Johnston

PRISON and probation officers are needed to meet New Zealand's crack down on crime.

Officials from the country's prison service are visiting the UK in search of potential migrants.

In this year alone, New Zealand needs more than 600 prison officers, with another 400 next year and 750 in 2007.

The prison service hopes to recruit 150 to 200 of this year's quota from the UK and The Netherlands. Salaries are likely to be around NZ$35,000 reflecting New Zealand's lower cost of living.

Some are needed for the 350-bed Northland Region Corrections Facility (NRCF), which opened at a cost of NZ$133 million last month ((March)). The term corrections underlines the New Zealand concept of reforming rather than just locking up inmates.

NRCF is the first of four new prisons that will add more than 1,600 beds to the country's prison capacity. The other three new ones are Auckland Women's opening next year, and Otago and Springhill prisons scheduled for 2007.

Ian Riddle, New Zealand Immigration Service (NZIS) Marketing Manager in London said: "Ideally, applicants will be in the 25 to 35 age group. The intention is to mix current experienced and freshly recruited New Zealand staff with new recruits from the UK and The Netherlands, who have prison officer experience."

UK and Dutch applicants are being targeted as they are likely to be well trained. Also being good English speakers, both nationalities are likely to adapt well to the culture and the environment. But extra training will be provided in New Zealand and there are good prospects for promotion.

Another reason for the European quest is that New Zealand doesn't have enough time to train local applicants from scratch.

"The prison service are doing some recruiting in New Zealand, but if they recruit everybody locally, they will end up with untrained staff."

Mr Riddle said the NZIS would be working closely with the prison service to ensure the smooth process of visa applications.

Besides the four new prisons, the New Zealand Government has approved funding for another 493 beds at several prisons that will be on stream within 12 months.

Opening the Northland facility, Corrections Minister Paul Swain said: "Inmate numbers are increasing because this government has got tough on crime following the 1999 law and order referendum. Changes to the bail, parole and sentencing laws have led to projections that inmate numbers will increase 15 per cent - 1,000 inmates - over the next five years."

But locking more people up was not the only answer in the long term. The second objective of the corrections system was to reduce re-offending.

"Some 25 per cent of inmates return to prison within a year of release. This is ridiculous. If we can lower this rate to 20 per cent, that equates to about 350 fewer inmates returning to prison - the size of the new Northland facility.