We have almost lost count of the number of times he has called out the Corrections Department for its failure to respond adequately to his many calls for improvement in its practices.
This time his exasperation involves the treatment of inmates in a prison unit for extreme risk criminals which he has found is cruel, inhuman and breaches the United Nations Convention against Torture.
The bullish way Corrections publicly responded to his report on this showed what he is up against.
Corrections talked up improvements made and downplayed Judge Boshier’s statement he had seen little evidence of change, appearing to suggest that he was not up with the play.
This chutzpah is baffling, particularly when Judge Boshier’s report shows the most recent visit was in November, and he was not convinced by responses from Corrections to his findings this month.
Thirteen prisoners are housed in Auckland Prison’s Prisoners of Extreme Risk Unit (PERU) including the Christchurch mosques terrorist.
PERU, often referred to as a prison within a prison, was set up in 2019, to focus on those whom Corrections regarded as some of the most complex inmates assessed as presenting extreme risk of harm to others, influencing others or harm from others.
But Judge Boshier has found the PERU operating model to be inhumane, unacceptable and harmful and he has called for it to be stopped.
He considers any regime based on long-term physical isolation of people in custody is inherently problematic, misaligned with the duty to provide a fair, safe, and humane environment conducive to rehabilitation.
He found all those in custody in the PERU experienced prolonged solitary confinement.
‘‘I have also found evidence of a disproportionate use of force on prisoners as well as excessive and unjustified instances of search and surveillance."
Judge Boshier acknowledges some may find it difficult to understand why we should care about the conditions and treatment of people in prison when they may have committed serious crimes, but goes on to say this:
"Treating every person humanely while in custody, even those who have acted in ways that we consider reprehensible, maintains the moral dignity of this country, and promotes the rehabilitation of people in custody. It does not undermine the rights of victims of crime; it cements our collective commitment to human rights and demonstrates our values of justice and humanity.
The concerns Judge Boshier has about this unit are not trifling.
Among them was poor record keeping, including the deletion of thousands of pieces of body camera footage, some of it involving a large-scale use-of-force incident.
We are hearing all too often of government agencies’ sloppy record keeping and we wonder if the time has come for the Public Service Commission to instigate a campaign to improve practices across the public sector.
As Judge Boshier pointed out, in the case of the Corrections camera footage, each of these recordings come under the Public Records Act 2005, being information recorded and stored, created by Corrections staff in the conduct of their duties. As such, Corrections had an obligation to create and maintain full and accurate records in accordance with normal, prudent business practice, and should have only disposed of these records if authorised to do so by the Chief Archivist.
This should not be a surprise to anyone. Allowing such deletions or not keeping proper records of decision -making understandably raises suspicion about avoidance of scrutiny.
The government, which is emphasising its toughness on crime, plans to spend nearly $2 billion over four years to build a mega prison in the Waikato.
Whether the public can have confidence any future development will treat all inmates humanely, given Corrections’ sluggish progress in getting its existing establishments up to par is a question which needs an answer.
Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell’s silence on the findings in Judge Boshier’s latest report is not encouraging.
