Labour's lack of planning exposed in Home-D debacle

National Party Corrections spokesman Simon Power says public safety is again being compromised as criminals on home detention are going for hours at a time without being monitored.

"'The problem of shortages in electronic bracelets for home detainees was highlighted soon after Labour's new sentencing laws were passed last year and, unfortunately, it remains.

"Corrections won't say whether the inmates who are going unmonitored are high-risk offenders or whether any have gone AWOL, but the department has confirmed that prisoners can go unchecked for up to three hours.

"This is just unbelievable. An inmate could cover a very large area in that time.

"This situation has only come about because Labour, in its haste to pass the new legislation, did not ensure that sufficient resources were in place to carry the load.

"As a result, we are faced with yet another situation in which the prison population is put ahead of public safety.

"This is not good enough. Home detention is fine so long as it is applied to the right people and administered properly."