Video links have been used for some time now, within the Justice System, to eliminate minor appearances, for a person in custody.

In September the Police arrest process in Central Auckland will be transferred to a new processing unit near Mt Eden Prison. Along with this will come virtual court appearances, where overnight arrests will be dealt with through video links.

This is a conceptual change to our Justice System, firstly in terms of bringing people before the court, to see the judge in other words, but secondly, isolating individuals from the outside word, from contact with other people apart from the processing staff.

It is a conceptual change in the traditional role of the Police to now deliver an offender to the processing unit rather than the court.

We have a century plus of court reporting, (some highly amusing records within the pages of history) but now there is a question of how much the media will see or could be stopped from seeing.

The majority of the arrested are of course men. These men will be in a new camp. A vague isolation somewhere between the Police and the Court, inches from the nearest prison.

Cost effective, convenient, carbon efficient, or another step in dehumasing the male of the species?