[MotherBear]

[color=blue:9b6e3585cd]Looks like they've made a start.[/color:9b6e3585cd]

[color=darkred:9b6e3585cd][b:9b6e3585cd]Jail lets sex crims out to pick fruit[/b:9b6e3585cd][/color:9b6e3585cd]
28 February 2006
By CHALPAT SONTI

Sex offenders are being let out of prison to work at Hawke's Bay orchards. The 20 Hawke's Bay Prison inmates ? accompanied by two guards ? were sent to pick apples at two orchards during the weekend as part of an inmate employment scheme. It is understood prison bosses plan to extend the controversial scheme. The owner of one of the orchards is believed to have requested 50 inmates ? and the prison is trying to recruit more guards to supervise them in order to meet demand.

A source said the segregated inmates were mainly sex offenders and were chosen because "they aren't going to cause any problems". "They're in protection and don't want to be seen doing anything wrong because they'll come off segregation. They've been hand-picked to do everything they are told." Inmates are held in segregation to protect them from other prisoners, most commonly because of disgust at their offences, including sex acts against children.

Sensible Sentencing Trust national spokesman Garth McVicar said the public would be horrified to learn of the secret work gang. "And that's presumably why they're keeping it quiet. Sex offenders are notoriously very manipulative, cunning and dangerous. The research says they're also usually recidivist offenders. They have to be deemed to be an ongoing risk to the public. That's why the public will be appalled at this sort of stuff being done on the quiet."

The scheme has also been criticised by the prison officers' union, the Corrections Association. President Beven Hanlon ? a guard at Hawke's Bay Prison ? said it pulled guards off the ordinary roster at an already short-staffed jail. Management planned to recruit four more guards soon to let 50 inmates work.

One source said the sex offenders were being paid $30 a week to work 40 hours ? almost twice as much as inmates normally earn on work schemes ? after managers received special permission from Corrections national office. They were paid more than the usual inmate rate as hush money because "(Corrections) wanted to hide things".

Corrections Department inmate employment manager Brent Maughan said the scheme was an opportunity to help orchardists, who were "facing difficulties" recruiting staff. He maintained there was "no risk" to public safety. The prisoners were being paid an "incentive allowance" of between 20 and 60 cents an hour, and the department was paid "contract rates" for the labour.

Hawke's Bay Fruitgrowers Association executive officer Dianne Vesty said she was unaware of the scheme but it was possibly a solution for orchardists struggling to find workers. But it was unlikely others would be attracted to work in orchards if they knew they would be near criminals.