Mrs Tolley visited the Serco-managed Doncaster Prison in England last week. Serco will manage nearly a quarter of New Zealand's prison population by 2015 when it takes over a new 960-bed facility in Wiri. It began a six-year contract at Mt Eden Correctional Facility last year.

Prison reform campaigner Roger Brooking said he had been concerned about Serco's contracts in New Zealand but he was impressed by the culture change at Mt Eden prison, in particular the use of first names between staff and inmates.

The Doncaster facility's "Families First" scheme, encouraged ongoing relationships between prisoners and their children. The scheme was limited to 11 well-behaved fathers in the minimum-security jail.

"While we were there, there was a father who was bathing his 18-month-old daughter. She comes in once a week, and the two of them go through a normal parenting day. He has a day with his little one and he has done since she was born," Mrs Tolley said.

"It's to try and maintain those links, so they don't miss the development of that child, so the child gets the benefit of a dad."

Mrs Tolley said privately-run jails had the advantage of being able to trial new programmes without jumping through bureaucratic hoops. She also noted the absence of hostility between staff and inmates at Doncaster Prison.

Serco has introduced some of its initiatives at Mt Eden. It increased the number of visiting hours for inmates and attempted to make the visiting area as home-like as possible to facilitate family bonding and encourage rehabilitation.

The Doncaster prison was the first British jail to be paid according to its results - it only received full payment if it reduced reoffending by 5 per cent.

This was similar to the proposed contract for the Wiri prison, Mrs Tolley said.

"If they don't beat the results from the public sector by 10 per cent, there are financial penalties."

More: NZ Herald

Serco admitted the prison had been using a temporary prison chaplaincy team since four permanent padres left in October after failing to agree with the company's plans. Serco said the situation "isn't ideal".

Salvation Army prison visitor Collin Mellors said he rarely attended Mt Eden any more since it was taken over by Serco.

Source:

• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: Zimbio