Collins 'clutching at straws' over Mt Eden fight clubs - Davis

  • 16/02/2016
Collins 'clutching at straws' over Mt Eden fight clubs - Davis

Labour says the Corrections Minister Judith Collins needs to stop making excuses after she denied claims fight clubs at Mt Eden Prison began well before Serco took over.

The allegations were made in the High Court yesterday, where the private prison operator is trying to block the release of a report into last year's fight club saga.

Labour's Corrections spokesperson, Kelvin Davis, says Ms Collins is clutching its straws by saying the fight clubs in 2009 were at Mt Eden Prison, not the renovated Mount Eden Correctional Facility.

"If the behaviour was happening in the old prison, just moving them to a new prison isn't going to change their behaviour.

"It's like saying a classroom of children, if you move them from one classroom into a new classroom all of a sudden they're going to be better and behave better and learn better," he says.

Ms Collins says the claim was "false information".

"It's not the same site, it's not the same prison. It's completely wrong information."

She says the allegations were looked into at the time, but there was no evidence of it.

Newshub.