There are eighteen adult
prison
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...
s in New Zealand. Three prisons house female offenders, one each in
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
,
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
and
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
. The remaining fifteen house male offenders; ten in the
North Island
The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...
and five in the
South Island
The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...
. In addition, there are four youth correctional facilities, termed
youth justice residences. The facilities are managed by the
Department of Corrections
In criminal justice, particularly in North America, correction, corrections, and correctional, are umbrella terms describing a variety of functions typically carried out by government agencies, and involving the punishment, treatment, and su ...
.
There are five security levels in New Zealand adult prisons: Minimum, Low, Low-Medium, High and Maximum.
In 2018 ''
North & South'' magazine published a long-form article by Paul Little titled "The Case for Closing Prisons" which included data on New Zealand prison inmate populations.
List of prisons
Northern Region
Northland Region Corrections Facility (Ngawha)
Northland Region Corrections Facility is located 5 km northeast of the town of
Kaikohe
Kaikohe is the seat of the Far North District of New Zealand, situated on State Highway 12 about 260 km from Auckland. It is the largest inland town and highest community above sea level in the Northland Region. With a population of over ...
and is colloquially known as
Ngawha - after the local area. Maori in Northland tried to persuade the Corrections Department not to upset a local taniwha by building the prison on thermal land. They were unsuccessful and the facility opened in 2005. Following completion, the foundations proved to be unstable.
The prison accommodates up to 548 prisoners with security classifications ranging from minimum to high-medium and employs 180 staff.
Auckland Prison (Paremoremo)
Auckland Prison opened in 1968 and is at
Paremoremo, on the northern fringe of
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
, and thus also known as Paremoremo Prison.
It contains New Zealand's only specialist maximum-security prison unit
and houses some of the most violent criminals in the country.
It has beds for 680 prisoners, and in 2010, about 90 prisoners were classified as maximum security. It has a 60-bed treatment unit for child-sex offenders called ''Te Piriti'' and a Special Needs Unit. In November 2011, a Drug Treatment Unit (DTU) was established with clinical staff coming from Odyssey House. The DTU houses up to 48 prisoners and provides an intensive 12-week programme targeted at prisoners serving sentences of between four and twelve months.
Mount Eden Corrections Facility
History
There has been a prison on the
Mount Eden
Mount Eden is a suburb in Auckland, New Zealand whose name honours George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland. It is south of the Central Business District (CBD). Mt Eden Road winds its way around the side of Mount Eden Domain and continues to weave ba ...
site in
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
since 1856. The first building was made of timber and was known as the Stockade. A new stone building opened in 1865 although the stone wall that surrounds the prison was not finished until the mid-1870s - using prison labour.
[History of Mt Eden](_blank)
, Corrections website
The old Mount Eden Prison used to hold about 420 prisoners and was squalid, substandard and unsafe. In 2004 the Department acknowledged the prison "falls well-short of the basic requirements for a modern corrections facility"; a New Zealand Herald editorial described it as an "antiquated pile beyond redemption as a suitable place to incarcerate humans". The 120-year-old prison was closed in 2011. Although it no longer houses inmates, the building has a 'category one' classification from
Heritage New Zealand
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust) ( mi, Pouhere Taonga) is a Crown entity with a membership of around 20,000 people that advocate ...
due to its historical significance and architectural quality. The building was to be restored and converted for staff and administration use for the new prison completed on the same site.
Current
The $40 million Auckland Central Remand Prison (ACRP), housing about 250 remand inmates, opened in July 2000, next to the old prison. It became the main reception prison for newly remanded male prisoners in the Auckland region. ACRP was the first prison in New Zealand to be administered by a private company. It was run by an Australian company,
GEO Group
The GEO Group, Inc. (GEO) is a publicly traded C corporation that invests in private prisons and mental health facilities in North America, Australia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, the company's f ...
. Five years later (2005), ACRP was returned to state operation by
a Labour government.
A major project to redevelop the site and create another facility began in 2008. New accommodation blocks and support facilities were constructed at a cost of $216 million. The prison was renamed the Mt Eden Corrections Facility (MECF) and now holds 966 prisoners. It opened on 30 March 2011.
In May 2010, the National Government decided that the prison would be privatised once again and British conglomerate,
Serco
Serco Group plc is a British company with headquarters based in Hook, Hampshire, England. Serco primarily derives income as a contractor for the provision of government services, most prominently in the sectors of health, transport, justice, i ...
, was awarded the contract. Five years later (July 2015) videos appeared online showing gang members fighting inside MECF. Allegations were made that there was an organised 'fight club' and that prisoners were filming the fights on cell phones and posting them on social media. Following an investigation, the Corrections Department stepped in to take over day-to-day management of the prison and then in December, the Government announced that Serco's contract would not be renewed in March 2017.
In 2019 ''
North & South'' magazine published the story of Pasimaca Osment, who in 1991 became one of the first female prison officers in New Zealand to work in a maximum-security jail. The piece describes her experiences at Mt Eden Corrections Facility, Spring Hill Corrections Facility and Paremoremo.
Auckland Region Women's Corrections Facility
The Auckland Region Women's Corrections Facility (ARWCF) is in the
Wiri
Wiri is a mostly industrial-commercial focused suburb in Auckland, New Zealand. It was formerly part of Manukau City until the merger of all of Auckland's councils into the ' super city' in 2010. The area was named after the chief Takaanini W ...
suburb of south Auckland. The site is 47 ha in size, of which only 13 ha are currently covered by the prison, leaving considerable room for expansion. With so much space available, in 2011 it became the proposed site for a new $900 million 960-bed men's prison which was to be built by 2015 and operated by British conglomerate Serco.
[New private prison at Wiri given green light](_blank)
NZ Herald 8 March 2012 This would make the suburb of Wiri the country's biggest prison precinct.
The original plan was for only 150 beds, but a 20 per cent hike in the number of women being sent to prison led to a significant expansion. Despite the increase, women still make up only 6% of the prison population. ARWCF now houses up to 456 prisoners and as a result of the increase, the cost blew out from an estimated $58 million to $158 million.
ARWCF is the first purpose-built women's prison in New Zealand.
Until it was built, female prisoners have mostly had to serve their sentences at women's prisons in Wellington and Christchurch.
The prison also provides the Kowhiritanga ('Making Choices') Programme. This rehabilitation programme is designed to address the particular needs of female prisoners – many of whom have suffered sexual abuse. Auckland University sociologist Tracey McIntosh says virtually all Maori women in prisons have been physically or sexually abused - and were excluded from school by the age of 13.
[Business chief joins panel to help fight child poverty](_blank)
NZ Herald 21 March 2012 The Making Choices programme uses cognitive-behavioural therapy, dialectical behaviour therapy, group psychotherapy, recreational psychology and a narrative approach to therapy.
In 2010 it was reported that eight prisoners at the facility were training dogs as part of the Puppies in Prison programme. The puppies were being trained by low security prisoners to help people in the community living with disabilities. The puppies help prepare the prisoners for life outside prison as well as learning around 90 tasks to help their future owners. They live with the women in self care units at the prison and even attend rehabilitation and education programmes with them. The puppies spend a year with the prisoners, before returning to the community for advanced training.
Auckland South Corrections Facility
In 2010 Corrections Minister, Judith Collins said an additional 2270 prison beds would be needed by 2019 to cope with forecast growth in prisoner numbers and to replace aging existing prisons. In response, the Government announced that the Department of Corrections proposed the establishment of a new men's prison with 1060 beds on undeveloped land adjacent to the Auckland Region Women's Corrections Facility at 20 Hautu Drive,
Wiri
Wiri is a mostly industrial-commercial focused suburb in Auckland, New Zealand. It was formerly part of Manukau City until the merger of all of Auckland's councils into the ' super city' in 2010. The area was named after the chief Takaanini W ...
,
Manukau City
Manukau City was a territorial authority district in Auckland, New Zealand, that was governed by the Manukau City Council. The area is sometimes referred to as "South Auckland", although this term never possessed official recognition and does ...
.
Environment Minister
Nick Smith established a board of inquiry to fast-track the building of the new prison allowing it to bypass the usual resource consents process which is subject to appeals in the Environment Court. After a three-week hearing in May 2011, the inquiry gave Corrections the go ahead to build the prison. A few months later, justice sector forecasts showed a drop in the projected prison population - for the first time ever. Prime Minister John Key then commented that the new prison at Wiri may no longer be needed but also said it might still be built so that 'older prisons may be retired'.
The contract to build and manage a new 960-bed prison was eventually award to Serco in 2012. It provided stiff financial penalties if its rehabilitation programmes fail to reduce reoffending by 10% more than the Corrections Department programmes. The Auckland South Corrections Facility was opened on 8 May 2015.
The contract to operate the prison ends in 2040.
Spring Hill Corrections Facility
Spring Hill Corrections Facility is in the countryside between
Meremere
Meremere is a small town in the northern Waikato region in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on the east bank of the Waikato River, 50 kilometres north of Hamilton and 63 km south of Auckland.
Meremere was the site of fighting ...
and
Te Kauwhata
Te Kauwhata is a small town in the north of the Waikato region of New Zealand, situated close to the western shore of Lake Waikare, some 40 km north of Hamilton and approximately 58 km south of Manukau City.
Description
''Te Kauwh ...
, in the Waikato. It opened in 2007 and was the last of four new facilities built as part of the Regional Prisons Development Project. It accommodates up to 1,018 male prisoners with low to high-medium security classifications. In the course of construction, the cost of the prison escalated to $380.3 million (at $600,000 a bed), $97.7 million over its original estimate.
[Accountant to probe prison cost blowouts](_blank)
''NZ Herald''. 30 March 2006.
The Department made the unusual step of spending $7.5 million buying and shipping earthmoving equipment from overseas to complete the prison. It says it was caught short by the national building boom and was unable to find the equipment in New Zealand. The Department bought eleven 40-tonne all-terrain dump trucks from Scotland, five compactors from America and France and two excavators from South Korea. When Otago's new Milton prison also cost $43.1 million more than the Department had forecast, Corrections Minister Damien O'Connor subsequently asked Treasury and the State Services Commission (SSC) to carry out an independent review of prison cost blowouts.
Springhill has New Zealand's only Pacific Focus Unit, which provides an environment where prisoners of Pacific ethnicity with a high risk of re-offending are encouraged to address their offending behaviours. Spring Hill also has a combined drug treatment and special treatment unit called Puna Tatari. The special treatment unit provides treatment for serious offenders with a high risk of re-offending who have been convicted of at least one violent offence.
Spring Hill was also the scene of the manslaughter of prison officer
Jason Palmer. This was the first death of a New Zealand prison officer on active duty.
Central region
Waikeria Prison
Waikeria Prison is located 16 kilometres south of
Te Awamutu
Te Awamutu is a town in the Waikato region in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the council seat of the Waipa District and serves as a service town for the farming communities which surround it. Te Awamutu is located some south of Hamilto ...
, at
Waikeria
Waikeria is a rural community in the Otorohanga District and Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island.
Waikeria Prison, one of New Zealand's largest prisons, is located on a site on Waikeria Road.
The New Zealand Ministry for Culture ...
in the
Waikato region
Waikato () is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, t ...
. It was built in 1911 and held 1031 prisoners and employed 480 staff. It used to be New Zealand's largest prison. However, in 2012, Prime Minister
John Key
Sir John Phillip Key (born 9 August 1961) is a New Zealand retired politician who served as the 38th prime minister of New Zealand, Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2008 to 2016 and as Leader of the New Zealand National Party from 2006 to ...
announced that some older prisons would close including units at Waikeria.
The prison includes several specialist units. It has one of the five Māori Focus Units in New Zealand prisons. The Māori Focus Units aim to bring about positive changes in offenders' thinking and behaviour through the practice of Māori values and disciplines, and specialist Māori programmes. Waikeria also has a Drug Treatment Unit for prisoners with drug or alcohol problems and a Special Treatment Unit (Karaka Special Treatment Unit) which is a 40-bed treatment unit for men who have repeatedly committed serious crimes and are considered to have a high risk of re-offending.
Because Waikeria Prison is a large site, the level of physical security varies between different units. The minimum security areas of the prison have fewer physical security feature because minimum security prisoners have been assessed as a minimal risk to the public. Higher security units are surrounded by a highly secure perimeter fence equipped with lighting, surveillance and detection equipment.
Between 29 December 2020 and 3 January 2021, twenty-one prisoners, protesting poor living conditions, staged an
uprising
Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority.
A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...
at Waikeria and lit fires which ultimately destroyed the prison's top facility.
The riots came to an end following negotiations involving
Māori Party
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
co-leader
Rawiri Waititi
Rawiri Wikuki Waititi (born ) is a New Zealand politician, iwi leader, Ringatū minister, and kapa haka exponent. He is a co-leader of Te Pāti Māori alongside Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for since 20 ...
.
Tongariro/Rangipo Prison
Tongariro
Mount Tongariro (; ) is a compound volcano in the Taupō Volcanic Zone of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located to the southwest of Lake Taupō, and is the northernmost of the three active volcanoes that dominate the landscape of th ...
/
Rangipo
Te Onetapu, commonly known as the Rangipo Desert, is a barren volcanic desert, desert-like environment in New Zealand, located in the Ruapehu District on the North Island Volcanic Plateau; to the east of the three active peaks of Mount Tongariro, ...
Prison began as a prison camp called Rangipo in
Tūrangi
Tūrangi is a small town on the west bank of the Tongariro River, 50 kilometres south-west of Taupō on the North Island Volcanic Plateau of New Zealand. It was built to accommodate the workers associated with the Tongariro hydro-electric pow ...
in 1922. When it started the few inmates were housed in tents, the cookhouse was the only building with corrugated iron roof and walls. To access the site with materials and officers they had to be transported across
Lake Taupō
Lake Taupō (also spelled Taupo; mi, Taupō-nui-a-Tia or ) is a large crater lake in New Zealand's North Island, located in the caldera of the Taupō Volcano. The lake is the namesake of the town of Taupō, which sits on a bay in the lake's nor ...
to
Wihi, near
Tokaanu
Tokaanu is a small settlement close to Tūrangi at the southern end of Lake Taupō.
The Tokaanu Thermal Pools and the easy access to Lake Taupo make it a popular lakeside holiday destination. A short walking track through the Tokaanu thermal ar ...
. Then travel by bullock wagon to Rangipo. The Hautu prison site was established in 1926, and the 2 prison camps became combined to be called Tongariro Prison 1958 / 59, a separate entity in 1977.
[Rangipo Prison Factsheet](_blank)
, Corrections Department website The prison is on a large site of more than 8,000 hectares off the Desert Road near Turangi. Around 4200 hectares of this land is forested and 2400 hectares is farmed. The remaining 1840 hectares are roads, river reserves, wetlands and native forest. The prison holds about 600 prisoners classified as minimum to low-medium security and 251 staff. Given its size, the Department says it is not possible to surround the Tongariro/Rangipo Prison site with razor wire fencing but units within the prison grounds are said to be appropriately fenced. In 1998, 204 cannabis plants, with an estimated street value of almost $1 million, were found growing at the prison - although the Department denies the crop was grown by prisoners.
In July 2011, a former Rangipo Prison guard Manu Stanley Jensen, was sentenced to 16 months in jail after accepting a bribe to supply cannabis to a prisoner.
Tongariro/Rangipo has one of the five Māori Focus Units in New Zealand prisons. The Māori Focus Units aim to bring about positive changes in offenders' thinking and behaviour through the practice of Māori values and disciplines, and specialist Māori programmes. The prison also has a strong relationship with local
iwi
Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...
and a special relationship with the surrounding
hapu - Ngāti Turamakina,
Ngāti Tūrangitukua
Ngāti Tūrangitukua is a Māori iwi (tribe) in Tūrangi, New Zealand. It is a hapu (sub-tribe) of the Ngāti Tūwharetoa iwi.
In 1998, the iwi received an apology and $5,000,000 from the New Zealand Crown as settlement for claims relatin ...
,
Ngāti Rongomai and
Ngāti Hine
Ngāti Hine is an iwi with a rohe in Northland, New Zealand. It is part of the wider Ngāpuhi iwi.
Its rohe (tribal area) covers the areas of Waiomio, Kawakawa, Taumarere, Moerewa, Ruapekapeka, Motatau, Waimahae, Towai, Akeramaa, Pakara ...
. Representatives of the hapu meet bi-monthly with the Prison Manager.
In 2000, a 25-year-old prisoner Aupai Bruce Tohu drowned after the
waka
Waka may refer to:
Culture and language
* Waka (canoe), a Polynesian word for canoe; especially, canoes of the Māori of New Zealand
** Waka ama, a Polynesian outrigger canoe
** Waka hourua, a Polynesian ocean-going canoe
** Waka taua, a Māori w ...
he was on capsized in choppy weather while taking part in a Maori cultural training course. Two years earlier, Rangipo prisoner Matthew Neave, aged 30, also drowned after parachuting into Lake Taupō.
In 2001, the health and safety coordinator for the Corrections Association, Brian Davies, issued a report claiming that the use of buckets as toilets was unhygienic and disgusting both for prisoners and guards. The report said this and other issues were among urgent problems that need fixing in rundown prisons - and cited Rangipo prison as one of the worst prisons.
When Corrections Minister Anne Tolley announced prison closures in 2012, some units at Rangipo were included in this announcement.
Hawke's Bay Regional Prison
Hawke's Bay Regional Prison, originally called Mangaroa, is located near
Hastings
Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England,
east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...
. It opened in October 1989, replacing the old
Napier Prison
Napier Prison is a visitor attraction and former prison in Napier, New Zealand. Built in 1862 and decommissioned as a prison in 1993, it is the country's oldest prison complex.
History
Napier Prison was constructed on Napier Hill in 1862 and ...
, which closed in 1993. Mangaroa holds about 640 prisoners and has 325 staff.
[Hawkes Bay Regional Prison Factsheet](_blank)
, Corrections website Hawke's Bay Regional Prison has one of the five Māori Focus Units in New Zealand prisons. The Māori Focus Units aim to bring about positive changes in offenders' thinking and behaviour through the practice of Māori values and disciplines, and specialist Māori programmes. It has a Drug Treatment Unit for prisoners with drug or alcohol problems.
The prison also had one of New Zealand's three Youth Units which accommodates prisoners under the age of 18 and prisoners aged 18–19 who are deemed to be vulnerable in the mainstream prison environment. The Department says youth prisoners are offered a range of psychological, educational and vocational training and claims it meets its obligations under the Education Act 1989 - which requires all under-16-year-olds to be in full-time education.
However, Judith Baragwanath, a Parole Board member and former teacher says 92% of teenage offenders in the Youth Units have a learning disability and tutors employed by the Department of Corrections to teach in the Youth Units are not subject to any accredited professional teaching standards. She also says the Youth Units have never been subject to scrutiny by the Education Review Office.
The Youth Unit was closed in 2011 after a disturbance by two 17-year-olds in which one of them threw boiling water over an officer, and stabbing the Officer. The inmates caused considerable damage and 11 months later, the unit was still not back in use and no decision had been made on when it would reopen.
Whanganui Prison
Whanganui Prison, in Kaitoke, holds about 538 prisoners and employs 252 staff. The oldest part of the prison, the main Kaitoke Prison complex, was built in 1978, and Te Ohorere, a Self Care Unit, and Te Whakataa minimum security units opened in 2005. Self-care units allow prisoners to get accustomed to living in a house or flat environment within the prison fences; they are designed to help reincorporate prisoners back into society upon release.
Whanganui Prison has one of the five Māori Focus Units in New Zealand prisons. The Māori Focus Units aim to bring about positive changes in offenders' thinking and behaviour through the practice of Māori values and disciplines, and specialist Māori programmes.
Whanganui Prison also has a stand-alone 12-cell at-risk facility to deal with suicidal inmates. Only two prisons in New Zealand have units specifically designed for this purpose. The other is at Waikeria and houses up to 30 prisoners in 26 cells.
Manawatu Prison
Manawatu Prison holds about 290 prisoners and employs 136 staff. It is located at
Linton Linton may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Linton, Victoria
Canada
* Linton, Ontario
* Linton, Quebec
United Kingdom England
* Linton, Cambridgeshire
* Linton, Derbyshire
* Linton (near Bromyard), Herefordshire
* Linton (near Ross-on-Wye), Her ...
, south of
Palmerston North
Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...
. The prison began as the Manawatu Youth Institution in 1979 for young male prisoners motivated to make use of the institution's educational, social development, trade training and community-based programmes. It became Manawatu Prison in 1985.
Manawatu prison has a voluntary faith based unit known as the Alpha Unit. The Unit is based on the spiritual values of the Christian faiths and it provides a supportive environment committed to the Principles, Values and Attitudes programme. The programme is run by the prison chaplain and prisoners volunteer to reside in it.
Southern Region
Rimutaka Prison
Rimutaka Prison is located in the suburb of
Trentham,
Upper Hutt
Upper Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Uta) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand and one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropolitan area.
Geography
The Upper Hutt city cent ...
. It is New Zealand's largest prison, holding up to 1078 prisoners and employing about 570 staff. The prison opened in 1967 and was originally named Wi Tako Prison until the name was changed to Rimutaka Prison circa 1990.
It is on a large site at the end of Freyberg Road and the number of cells and prison units has grown substantially in recent years to accommodate rising prisoner numbers. In 2010, Rimutaka became the first prison in New Zealand to open a container-cell unit.
[Rimutaka Prison Factsheet](_blank)
, Corrections website The cells are constructed from refurbished shipping containers and the unit houses up to 60 prisoners in a mix of single and double-bunked cells.
Rimutaka Prison includes several specialist rehabilitation units. It has one of the five Māori Focus Units in New Zealand prisons, a Drug Treatment Unit for prisoners with drug or alcohol problems. A Faith-Based Unit providing a programme for prisoners centred around the Christian faith was closed in 2012 after evaluation found it had no impact on reducing reoffending.
Rimutaka also has a 30-bed special treatment unit for violent prisoners called Te Whare Manaakitanga. Prisoners in this unit are taught skills to enable them to live without using violence; this includes conflict resolution, the use of timeout, impulse control and how to challenge their own distorted thinking. The prisoners also learn to change their attitudes towards women.
Offenders have to be classified as having a high risk of re-offending in order to attend this programme.
Rimutaka prison opened the country's first dementia unit in December 2012. The Corrections Department said a "high dependency unit" will be created for some of the 120 inmates aged over 65 who struggle with daily tasks, such as showering themselves. Wellington lawyer Mary More, who represents a 75-year-old prisoner believes the unit is long overdue and said: "The Department of Corrections needs to recognise that the courts are sending more and more people to prison for longer ... and we are going to have an aging prison population."
Arohata Women's Prison
![Arohata Womens Prison](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Arohata_Womens_Prison.JPG)
Arohata Prison, one of New Zealand's three women's prisons, is located near
Tawa, a suburb in the north of Wellington. The
Māori-language name ''Arohata'' means "bridge"; it reflects the belief that the prison provides a bridge between past offending and a future in the wider community. The prison, built in 1944, originally operated as a women's borstal. It became a youth prison in 1981 and a women's prison in 1987. It held about 150 prisoners and employed 73 staff .
The prison includes a
Drug Treatment Unit, established in 1999, for prisoners with drug or alcohol problems
and is the only women's prison that operates a DTU. Women from Christchurch or Auckland women's prisons who have addictions have to move to Arohata prison to take part in the programme.
Arohata also runs the Kowhiritanga ('Making Choices') Rehabilitation Programme specifically for female prisoners, many of whom have been exposed to sexual and psychological abuse during childhood and in their adult relationships.
Most of the programme is based on
cognitive-behavioural therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a psycho-social intervention that aims to reduce symptoms of various mental health conditions, primarily depression and anxiety disorders. CBT focuses on challenging and changing cognitive distortions (suc ...
,
dialectical behaviour therapy, group psychotherapy, recreational psychology and a narrative approach to therapy. A
Toastmasters
Toastmasters International (TI) is a US-headquartered nonprofit educational organization that operates clubs worldwide for the purpose of promoting communication, public speaking, and leadership.
History
The organization grew out of a single c ...
group and other volunteers have helped implement a variety of programs such as
yoga
Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...
,
quilting
Quilting is the term given to the process of joining a minimum of three layers of fabric together either through stitching manually using a needle and thread, or mechanically with a sewing machine or specialised longarm quilting system. A ...
,
Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship of alcoholics dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually-inclined Twelve Step program. Following its Twelve Traditions, AA is non-professi ...
meetings, the Catholic-based grief "Seasons for Growth" programme, public-speaking skills,
and a kitten-fostering programme.
[
]
Christchurch Prison
Christchurch Prison, also known as Paparua Prison, is located near
Paparua
Paparua is a rural area west of Christchurch city. It contains both Christchurch Men's Prison (often called Paparua Prison) and Christchurch Women's Prison. Quarries and heavy industry dominate in the north of the area. Mike Pero Motorsport Par ...
to the west of
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
. It was built in 1915 and accommodates about 930 prisoners. The prison includes a Drug Treatment Unit for prisoners with drug and alcohol problems as well as a Youth Unit for prisoners under 18 years old.
In September 2010 and 2011, Christchurch was hit by two major earthquakes. The prison suffered no major damage from the first quake but about half of the 800 inmates were moved as a precaution after it affected the prison's plumbing systems. Some were taken by bus to Otago Correctional Facility and others were flown to prisons in the North Island. Those inmates left behind were required to put together ration packs and prepare meals for rescuers.
After the second quake in February 2011, a decision was made to move prisoners from Christchurch's Rolleston prison to Christchurch Men's prison, emptying 320 beds to create accommodation for the influx of rescuers into the city.
Christchurch Women's Prison
![Christchurch Women's Prison - cropped](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Christchurch_Women%27s_Prison_-_cropped.jpg)
Christchurch Women's Prison is one of three women's prisons in New Zealand and the only one in the South Island. It is near Paparua, to the west of
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
. It holds 138 prisoners and employs 70 staff. The prison opened in 1974, and prisoners and staff transferred there from Dunedin Prison and Christchurch Prison's Women's Division.
A facilities upgrade in 2011 provided for four mothers and their babies to live together.
The prison provides the Kowhiritanga ('Making Choices') rehabilitation programme designed to address the particular needs of female offenders – many of whom have suffered sexual abuse.
Rolleston Prison
Rolleston prison is located at Runners Rd in
Rolleston Rolleston may refer to:
Places
* Rolleston, Queensland, Australia
* Rolleston, Leicestershire, England
* Rolleston, Nottinghamshire, England
** Rolleston railway station
* Rolleston on Dove, Staffordshire, England
** Rolleston Hall
* Rolleston, ...
, south-west of
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
. It was originally established in 1958 as an army detention centre. It was first used as a prison in 1986 when the new Corrective Training Centre was built called the Tawa unit.
The prison was extensively renovated in 1987 to increase capacity and in 1989 the 60 bed Kia Marama unit opened - one of only two such units in the country. The unit delivers group-based treatment within a therapeutic environment to child sex offenders. The programme helps prisoners look at their patterns of behaviour and identify high-risk situations. Evaluations have shown that the programme is very effective in reducing re-offending. In 1992 the 60 bed Kowhai unit opened and an additional two units have been completed since then. Rolleston now holds about 320 male prisoners and employs 93 staff.
Because Rolleston Prison contains prisoners assessed as being of minimal risk to the public, the level of physical security is lower than would be found at many other prisons. It originally did not have a perimeter fence. Instead, individual units had their own secure fencing and the prison has electronic security devices around the perimeter. In 2019 a perimeter fence was installed. Older units at Rolleston are set to close as part of the Department's decision to close down older prisons and build a new 960 bed prison for males at Wiri.
Otago Corrections Facility
Otago Corrections Facility (OCF) is located near
Milton
Milton may refer to:
Names
* Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname)
** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet
* Milton (given name)
** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...
. It opened in 2007 and was one of four new prisons that opened between 2005 and 2007. OCF was intended to hold about 425 male prisoners and employ 201 staff. When double bunking was introduced at OCF in 2010, inmate numbers rose to 480.
The prison provides three rehabilitation programmes. The Medium Intensity Rehabilitation Programme is designed for prisoners in the middle risk range – those not considered high risk but still enough of a risk to warrant rehabilitation. The Short Rehabilitation Programme is a brief rehabilitation programme aimed at a smaller number of prisoners who require rehabilitation but do not have enough time in their sentence to complete a longer programme. OCF also has a Drug Treatment Unit for prisoners with drug and alcohol problems.
Invercargill Prison
Invercargill Prison, in
Invercargill
Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of t ...
, holds about 165 prisoners. Built in 1910, the prison operated as a borstal until 1981. In 2012 a rehabilitation programme was introduced at Invercargill Prison.
Youth justice residences
There are four youth correctional facilities, termed youth justice residences, located in Auckland,
Rotorua
Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...
,
Palmerston North
Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...
and Christchurch. Only the Auckland facility is licensed to take young offenders sentenced to imprisonment under the Sentencing Act 2002; the other three only take young offenders sentenced to residence under the Child, Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989. All youth justice residences are operated by
Child, Youth and Family
Child, Youth and Family (CYF; in Māori language, Māori, ''Te Tari Awhina i te Tamaiti, te Rangatahi, tae atu ki te Whānau''), was the State sector organisations in New Zealand, government agency that had legal powers to intervene to protect an ...
.
Closed facilities
Addington Prison
Located in the Christchurch suburb of Addington, the prison was built in 1874 under the guidance of Benjamin W. Mountfort, who also designed the Christchurch Cathedral, the Canterbury Museum and the Canterbury Provincial Council Chambers. Addington Prison was closed in 1999 and has been converted into a budget backpackers called Jailhouse Accommodation. The Mountfort cell block and remaining perimeter walls are a
Heritage New Zealand
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust) ( mi, Pouhere Taonga) is a Crown entity with a membership of around 20,000 people that advocate ...
Historic Place Category 2.
Dunedin Prison
Dunedin Prison was built (completed) in 1896 and operated until 2007 when all prison services in the region were shifted to the new Otago Corrections Facility near Milton.
Napier Prison
Napier Prison opened in 1862 on Bluff Hill in
Napier. It closed in 1993, with prisoners transferring to
Hawke's Bay Regional Prison.
New Plymouth Prison
New Plymouth
New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. ...
Prison used to hold up to 112 minimum to high-medium security prisoners and employed 65 staff. The prison also accommodated offenders on remand. The prison was originally an army hospital in the 1860s during the Taranaki land wars. The site was converted to a prison later that decade. From 1917 to 1952 it held mainly prisoners convicted of homosexual offences. In 2012, Corrections Minister, Anne Tolley announced it would be closed "because old prisons didn't suit modern rehabilitation training and education methods."
[Minister defends prison closure plans](_blank)
New Zealand Herald, 23 March 2012. It closed in 2013.
Ohura Prison
Ohura Prison opened in 1972. It closed in 2005, because it was understaffed. Ohura was also vulnerable to road closures and flooding. The prison had been built on the site of a miners' hostel. Ohura was a minimum-security prison consisting of a simple two-building complex with no external wire fence. The prison held up to 97 male prisoners. The main cell block had a rebuild in 1997 to increase cell sizes. The prison has since been turned into
bed and breakfast
Bed and breakfast (typically shortened to B&B or BnB) is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast. Bed and breakfasts are often private family homes and typically have between four and eleven rooms, wit ...
accommodation.
Waikune Prison
Waikune Prison opened in 1921 and closed in 1986. Near the small town of
National Park
A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
, it held around 100 minimum-security prisoners. Inmates worked in nearby forestry areas, did track maintenance for the Department of Conservation, cleared ski-field roads and did the laundry for Tongariro’s famous Grand Chateau Hotel. In the mid-1980s the prison required a large amount of capital investment to upgrade its buildings and infrastructure. The government of the time, after a select committee hearing, decided to close the facility. Inmates were moved to other sites around the country and the prison officially closed in 1986. The structure and roof of one of the two prison buildings has given way. While there are a few buildings on the site that have potential, overall the buildings are derelict.
Wellington Prison
Wellington Prison, also known as Mount Crawford, held about 120 prisoners and employed 35 custodial staff. It was built in 1927 at Point Halswell, next to the suburb of Miramar, in
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
and replaced the original Terrace Gaol in central Wellington. The prison only accommodated prisoners who were on voluntary segregation – prisoners who have asked to be separated from the mainstream prison population.
[Wellington Prison](_blank)
, Corrections website
The Wellington prison was temporarily closed in June 2008 during a "seasonal prison population trough", however it reopened in July 2009 when the national prison population increased once again.
In 2012, Corrections Minister, Anne Tolley announced it would be closed permanently "because the old prisons didn't suit modern rehabilitation training and education methods."
See also
*
List of prisons
This article provides a list of prisons by country.
A
Australian Capital Territory
* Alexander Maconochie Centre
* Periodic Detention Centre
New South Wales
* Bathurst Correctional Centre
* Berrima Correctional Centre
* Brewarrin ...
References
External links
The Department of Correction's website prison locator.
{{DEFAULTSORT:List of Correctional Facilities in New Zealand
*
Law enforcement in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
Prisons
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correcti ...
Prisons
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correcti ...