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Archived Press Releases 2009 22nd June 2009

CONTAINERS – OUR SOLDIERS WOULD LOVE THEM

(22nd June 2009)

"This soldier said he would have loved the luxury of a container instead of a tent while he was serving in East Timor or training in snow and ice under the mountains of Waiouru."

"We expect our soldiers to live in tents in some of the harshest conditions in the World yet when it comes to housing criminals in containers some find it offensive” say the Sensible Sentencing Trust."

Trust Spokesman Garth McVicar was commenting after Corrections Minister Judith Collins floated the idea as an option to building more of the luxurious and expensive new prisons built by the last Government.

Mr McVicar said the Trust supported the idea and had taken numerous calls from the public, the most notable being from a former soldier.

"This guy said he would have loved the luxury of a container instead of a tent while he was serving in East Timor or training in snow and ice under the mountains of Waiouru."

"This soldier found it absolutely ludicrous that it is okay for soldiers to live in accommodation such as tents yet when it comes to criminals who break the law and hurt, maim or murder people we house them in the lap of luxury."

Mr McVicar said New Zealanders were sick of the soft-on-crime initiatives and luxury prisons that had seen the prison population explode in recent times, "Committing crime and going to prison became a viable life-style choice for some."

"It seems a little ironic that the very same criminals who have forced law-abiding members of the public too lock tools and valuable machinery in containers may now be asked to live in those containers."

Regards,

Garth McVicar
National Spokesperson,
Sensible Sentencing Trust.