‘It is the blind leading the blind’

To probation officer Bruce Anderson, an ordinary-looking room at Christchurch Men’s Prison was a place of ‘‘real power’’.

At a Formica table the chairman of the National Parole Board, then Sir Thomas Thorp, flanked by a district court judge and psychiatrist, asked prisoners about their progress and plans upon release.

The prisoners, cowed though they were by the august figures in the room, answered.

From his desk in the corner, Anderson, who attended parole hearings for five years, heard how disadvantage shaped the detritus of society. He heard a man confess himself an alcoholic like all 23 of his siblings.

Until its reconfiguration in 2002, the regional parole board made common sense decisions that benefited everyone, he says.

Over his nearly 40 years in Corrections that changed.

Three years retired, Anderson, 68, decries what he calls ‘‘managerialism gone mad’’ from his living room in St Albans, Christchurch.

He was on his ‘‘last, last, last warning’’ before he left the department and here, between his stack of Best Bets racebooks and tabletop chess set, he can speak freely.

‘‘I had less issues dealing with your average rapist or murderer than dealing with senior management.’’

Corrections, he says, is a ‘‘sham’’.

Running a state department like a business meant an increasing focus on outcomes.

People, sometimes violent offenders, were paroled before they were ready.

He says the likelihood of recidivism was proportional to the number of release conditions a prisoner had.

‘‘I would see 12 parole conditions and throw my hands in the air. Where’s the justice?’’

Anderson is tough on crime and admits contempt for progressive liberals who, he says, expect the world to rise to their challenges.

The chairman of NZ First’s Christchurch Central electorate committee since 2005, he has an oversized gold card signed ‘‘happy birthday’’ from Winston Peters, tucked behind his television unit.

He relishes what he thinks will be an exciting regime under US president-elect Donald Trump. Fox News is on the TV screen in the background.

He doesn’t take a lock ’em all up mentality but urges caution from courts and parole boards who have ‘‘silver tongued lawyers and reports before you dwelling on offenders’ disadvantaged backgrounds’’.

Sentences like community detention, intended for whitecollar crimes, have been ‘‘perverted’’ into an option for serious offenders, he says.

But in his opinion, the root cause of bad outcomes is the process-driven mentality of Corrections which, he says, drove many out of the job.

Twenty years ago staff had more autonomy but micromanagement and endless paperwork alienated senior staff, leaving a yawning experience gap, he says.

‘‘It was the blind leading the blind.’’

Beleaguered by bureaucracy, Corrections’ staff numbers have grown alongside New Zealand’s prison population.

‘‘Airy-fairy esoteric’’ programmes like cognitive restructuring were prioritised over practical interventions.

‘‘People change by virtue of their life experience. What made a difference was getting a job and meeting a good woman, or man.’’

For Corrections to achieve its goals – such as a 25 per cent reduction in reoffending by 2025 – it needs to cut the dross and focus on pro-social programmes, Anderson says.

But he believes wider change is also needed to make a difference to recidivism rates.

He is a serial letter writer, and in one published by the Sunday

Star-Times he writes that ‘‘our society has become too complex and competitive’’.

‘‘Unless there is increased government investment in housing, health, welfare, and education, and much of that investment is focused on our most vulnerable families, things will get worse, not better.

‘‘Building more prisons is not the answer.’’

I had less issues dealing with your average rapist or murderer than dealing with senior management. Unless there is increased government investment in housing, health, welfare, and education, and much of that investment is focused on our most vulnerable families, things will get worse, not better. Bruce Anderson, retired probation officer