Dear Ministry of Justice,

The Corrections Amendment Bill is currently at select committee. You advised that it was compliant with the Bill of Rights Act. I am interested in the reasoning behind this, in particular in relation to cell sharing.

I seek all correspondence, documents, meeting details and minutes, and any other relevant material regarding the s7 report and double bunking. To the degree it is not included above, I also seek any guidance material used in preparing the report.

As this is currently proceeding through parliament I ask that this request be treated as urgent so that the relevant material can inform those debates.

Yours faithfully,

BAW Russell

Dear Antony Paltridge,

Thank you for your quick reply. As you're aware legal professional privilege is not a conclusive reason for withholding information and must be weighed against the public interest in the release of the relevant material. I am concerned about the robustness of the Ministry's advice that the proposal to expand double bunking is consistent with the BORA, particularly given that the material you have released to me confirms that you only considered three pieces of evidence on double bunking, one of which was produced by Corrections itself. As you will be aware there is extensive research on double bunking and prison crowding, as well as other relevant information, such as the various Ombudsman's OPCAT reports. The material released to me confirms that the Ministry did not take any of this material into account. As such there is a substantial public interest in understanding how a robust analysis could be undertaken while ignoring a large volume of relevant informatin.

Given the substantial public interest in ensuring compliance with the BORA, the uniquely vulnerable position of prisoners, and the issues highlighted above I am asking you to reconsider whether the public interest outweighs the reason for withholding your legal analysis in relation to double bunking.

For the purpose of clarity, please note that this question only relates to material withheld under s9(2)(h), and not material withheld under other grounds, such as s9(2)(a).

Yours sincerely,

BAW Russell

Dear Antony Paltridge,

I have not received any response to my follow up question. Please note that if you do not respond or refuse to release the I will lodge a complaint with the Ombudsman.

Yours sincerely,

BAW Russell