Fuzzy numbers etc.
Oops! We seriously inflated our figures in the editorial of July 23. According to Corrections Minister Judith Collins, there were 8434 people in prisons or police stations on July 13. The prison population is forecast to rise to around 10,700 by 2016. If that forecast is realised, we then will have 2266 more people in prison. At $100,000 per prisoner per year, this would have increased the burden on taxpayers by $226,600,000 in 2016, lifting the cost to $1.070 billion – not $8 billion as we said. We muffed our maths but maintain our position: every dollar saved by finding alternative punishments could be spent on providing other public services, such as the five new schools and 69 additional state houses to be built as part of the Government’s almost $500 million infrastructure package announced in February.
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