Foreigners and jail
Why cannot a Samoan overstayer sentenced to life imprisonment for murder be sent home to serve his term? This question is posed by W. Jeffs in a letter to the Editor. W. Jeffs writes: “I see (November 19) that a Samoan overstayer has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murder. Could I please ask why this murderer cannot be sent back to Samoa to serve his term? Why should we, as taxpayers, have to help pay for his imprisonment?” The Ministerof Justice, Mr Palmer, replies: “New Zealand has participated in discussions within the Commonwealth regarding the possibilities of repatriating imprisoned foreign nationals. At this stage, however, there are no agreements in place to facilitate such a transfer. Similarly, there are provisions in our law to allow the early release and deportation of
foreign inmates where there are special reasons or extenuating circumstances, but these are used relatively infrequently and in unusual cases only. Further, inmates released and deported under these provisions are not necessarily imprisoned upon their return to their homeland. "In general terms, therefore, New Zealand follows the principle that imprisoned foreign nationals should serve their sentences here and under the same conditions and parole provisions as New Zealand citizens. Apart from recognising the practical reality that many countries would, in fact, be unwilling to imprison their citizens for offences carried out in another country, such an approach ensures that justice is being seen to be done and that any person who offends against our law, irrespective of nationality, will be dealt with under the New Zealand criminal justice system.
Such an approach also avoids the risk of New Zealand being seen as providing some kind of crime haven, and it means that we maintain the deterrent aspect of New Zealand law.
“While New Zealand will continue to take an interest in the Commonwealth discussions mentioned earlier, it must be understood that repatriation of prisoners is not a simple issue. Legal systems and codes, political structures and priorities, prison conditions and sentence lengths — these and many other variables are very different from country to country. Exchanging prisoners would involve a complex two-way traffic between New Zealand and quite a large number of other nations.
Certainly it is debatable whether, as your correspondent, W. Jeffs, seems to imply, any taxpayers’ money would be saved.”
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19871226.2.94
Bibliographic details
Press, 26 December 1987, Page 16
Word Count
387Foreigners and jail Press, 26 December 1987, Page 16
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Copyright in all Footrot Flats cartoons is owned by Diogenes Designs Ltd. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise these cartoons and make them available online as part of this digitised version of the Press. You can search, browse, and print Footrot Flats cartoons for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Diogenes Designs Ltd for any other use.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.