Foreigners and jail

Press, 26 December 1987, Page 16

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.”