Thursday, July 10, 2003

Welfare: Crime and punishment -- state pays both ways (New Zealand)
National Business Review article by Dr. Muriel Newman, Act New Zealand MP - "New figures, released to me last week by Associate Social Services Minister Parekura Horomia, show that in 2002, some 3203 people had their benefits cancelled due to imprisonment. This means that almost half of all offenders who committed a crime serious enough to warrant a prison sentence came off a benefit. ... Some of the most violent offenders in our prisons are those in urgent need of mental health treatment. It has been estimated that some 10% of the entire prison population is in that category. However, the prison system is such that providing mental health treatment to someone in jail is virtually impossible. ... In reality, these offenders should not be in prisons but in a forensic mental health facility, where they can have access to appropriate medical treatment. The problem is that the only such facility ­ Auckland's Mason Clinic ­ has only 84 beds."