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The Social Justice Commission of the Anglican Church of Aotearoa & Polynesia

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No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside the jails

By / 23 June 2009

If there existed a national set of ethical standards for prison management, the deterioration of the prison system over the last year could have been avoided”, said Kim Workman, Director of Rethinking Crime and Punishment. “Instead, we have seen measures implemented which breach the UN Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, and the Minister publicly planning to circumvent international covenants around forced labour.

Double bunking, prisoners being locked in their cells for 16 hours a day, the revocation of work programmes, and proposals to build inferior accommodation, have all occurred in the absence of any national standards which safeguard prisoner’s rights, and preserve safe working conditions for staff. There is no national minimum standard against which the humane management of prisoners can be measured.

Experienced prison managers and staff are becoming increasingly concerned at the absence of a set of ethical standards which guide and support good prison management. The best prisons in the world are run within an ethical context which respects the humanity of everyone involved in a prison: prisoners, prison staff and visitors. This approach does not represent a liberal or soft approach to prison management. What it does do is provide a safe and effective set of principles for managing prisons.

Prison officers can’t be expected to understand and interpret international covenants. What is needed is a national set of standards which guides daily management practise, and sets minimum standards around living conditions, the humane treatment of prisoners and staff, and guides those who work in prisons and who deal with prisoners on a day to day basis.

The most fundamental values in a democratic society are those which respect for the inherent dignity of all human beings, whatever their personal or social status. One of the greatest tests of this respect for humanity lies in the way in which a society treats those who have broken the criminal law.

Nelson Mandela put it this way, “No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside the jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones”.

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About us

This site is run by the Social Justice Commission of the Anglican Church.

We seek to nurture justice spirituality and imagination, and engage in advocacy in all areas of life, overcoming poverty and transforming violence.

We encourage people to think and live “justly”, and emphasise debate and action on local, national and global issues.

Although we are Anglican, our vision isn’t so much about being Anglican. It’s about living justly. Justice is about how you live your life, and being just where we are. Working together, we can all flourish.

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