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National | Prison

Over 200 Prison Officers face possible job losses

Around 260 prison officers could lose their jobs, following the announcement of the closure of sections of 3 prisons.

Labour’s Corrections Spokesperson, Kelvin Davis has criticised the move and claims it’s the thin end of the wedge of the privatisation of the country’s prison service.

He says, “What makes it worse is that these closures are to justify the existence of the new private prison at Wiri. Serco the owners of Wiri will now be laughing all the way to the bank. They will now be able to hire the officers that will be laid off. This means that 20 per cent of or prison population will now be housed in private facilities.”

Davis believes the goal of achieving a 25 percent reduction in reoffending will be very difficult to meet with the privatisation of such facilities.