A Minister who strongly defended a private prison pays a heavy political price

A Minister who strongly defended a private prison pays a heavy political price. “Worse than that, actually. Within days of that speech, the Corrections Department had stepped in to take over the running of the prison again. By December, Serco had lost the contract to run Mt Eden. And Lotu-Iiga was dumped as minister. It was a bloody demise for both Serco and Lotu-Iiga as months of anguish and allegations about Mt Eden spewed forth in Parliament and the media. But did the scandal mask wider problems going on in the prison system?”