When I think about this government the following saying springs to mind…
Throwing the baby out with the bath water.
In this case, it is free speech that is being thrown out because of an overreaction to a letter written from prison. Once again all of New Zealand has to suffer because of the actions of ONE individual.
Corrections to clamp down on prisoner letters after Christchurch mosque accused blunder
Prison guards will soon have the power to withhold letters from inmates, such as those sent by the Christchurch terror attack suspect.
In August, the Department of Corrections asked the Government for more powers to block mail in and out of prison, after it was revealed a letter written by the mosque attack accused was mailed and later posted in an online messaging board popular with white supremacists.
A second letter from “a prisoner holding extremist views” had also been sent from Christchurch Men’s Prison and was understood to have been penned by Philip Arps, who has been described as an “unrepentant, hardcore white supremacist” when he was jailed for sharing the mosque terror video earlier this year.
Following the blunder, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis said there was not enough scrutiny and the process was not robust enough.
Information released to Stuff under the Official Information Act reveals Corrections withheld 21 incoming letters and 299 outgoing letters, in the past 12 months.
[…] National will oppose the Bill.
[…] The latest amendment adds an explicit provision that allows for the withholding of prisoner mail that promotes or encourages hostility towards any group of people; expands the existing withholding ground, so that mail can be withheld if it threatens or intimidates any person; adjusts the threshold for withholding incoming and outgoing prisoner mail and introduces additional considerations for decision-making about prisoner mail.
Information provided by the minister’s office states that Corrections was currently managing a significant number of people with views that might be considered ‘extreme’, including about 100 people with white supremacist views.
stuff.co.nz/national/politics/116747072/corrections-to-clamp-down-on-prisoner-letters-after-christchurch-mosque-accused-blunder
Funny isn’t it how they only mention white supremacist views. Why are they so coy about the extremist views that make up the rest of the “significant number” of people? Also, why won’t they spell out the “additional considerations for decision making” about prisoners’ mail? What are they hiding?
Tommy Robinson in prison in the UK had his mail withheld from him on a number of occasions and they didn’t even bother to come up with a fake excuse, they just did it. This new law is ripe for abuse. If the “Screws” don’t like you what are the odds now that you will be able to send and receive mail?
Tommy Robinson is a political prisoner who has been oppressed by the British government using the legal system for many years. Their latest hit on him is to attempt to ban him from ever again attending a football game in any part of the United Kingdom. With that kind of oppression already happening in the UK this latest law change should be setting off multiple warning bells!
The New Zealand terrorist’s actions have affected law-abiding gun owners all over New Zealand and now his letters are being used as an excuse to destroy and withhold mail from prisoners in prisons all over New Zealand due to a completely over the top reaction to one letter being posted online.
This government is giving this terrorist all that he could have hoped for. Free speech is being trampled, guns are being forcibly taken off their legal owners and journalists have gone off on mad white supremacist hunts, smearing various people along the way.
It is a complete cluster wotsit.
Far from taking away the terrorist’s power this government is cementing it by demonising honest citizens and their guns just as he hoped they would and, by taking away the free speech of New Zealand prisoners, putting yet another nail in the coffin of free speech in New Zealand.
https://thebfd.co.nz/2019/08/dangerous-words/ https://thebfd.co.nz/2019/08/terrorism-is-an-idea/ https://thebfd.co.nz/2019/08/the-right-to-write/
