The National Party is raising questions about the cost of keeping inmates in jail.
According to the latest Corrections Department figures, which
takes the price of new prisons into account, it costs over
$92,000 a year - or $253 a day - to keep a prisoner in jail.
National Party justice spokesman Simon Power says that is up more
than 30% on two years ago.
Power blames cost blowouts on new prison projects for the
increase.
Last year two new prisons - one in Otago and one in Waikato - were reported to be $140 million over budget.
A Cabinet paper released to ONE News at the time explained that when drawing up the budget for the prisons Corrections officials used standard costings. It was only later that they realised that prisons use more steel than other commercial buildings. They also didn't budget for increased labour costs under the Holiday's Act, despite staff on projects like prisons working a lot of public holidays to make up for time lost to bad weather.
