Private prisons and the management of scandal

In 2009, the Corrections (Contract Management of Prisons) Amendment Act re-implemented prison privatisation in New Zealand (NZ). Subsequently, ‘Mt Eden’, a public prison, was contracted to Serco and a second prison, ‘Wiri’, was built under contract to the same company. Despite glowing performance reports, Serco’s reputation was significantly damaged when cell-phone video capturing Mt Eden prisoners engaged in fights, in full view of prison officers and CCTV, was uploaded to YouTube in July 2015. An unprecedented stream of media revelations about prisoner mistreatment, corruption and serious human rights violations followed, prompting the Department of Corrections to seize control of the prison. This article examines the potential of this human rights based scandal to challenge the legitimacy of private prisons in NZ. Where previously, prison legitimacy largely revolved around representations of managerialism, security and the maintenance of austere conditions, the revelations at Mt Eden highlighted a moment when penal legitimacy fractured for being too severe and non-humanitarian. Drawing upon analysis of media articles (n = 648) over seven years (2009–2016) from three major sources (the New Zealand Herald, Stuff News and Radio NZ), the article demonstrates how journalists quickly reverted to traditional discursive frames on imprisonment. Representing the crisis as an unfortunate aberration that could be managed through government controls, mainstream media helped to consolidate and ultimately strengthen the legitimacy of the prison in NZ