Human Rights and Prisons - Rethinking Crime and Punishment

11. Conclusion
This review has shown that real progress has been made, since 2004, with
regard to building and maintaining human rights standards in correctional
institutions. In many situations, New Zealand advances beyond the UN
Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.
Recent positive steps include:
The consolidation of human rights considerations within penal
legislation, regulation and policy;
The increase in prisoners involved in vocational/accredited industries;
The increase in prisoners involved in literacy and educational courses;
The expansion of drug and alcohol programmes;
The expansion of Units and Programmes that specifically attend to the
diverse needs of prisoners;
The impending implementation of the Mothers with Babies legislation
and a mental health screening tool;
Development of culturally-relevant strategies that attend to the overrepresentation
of groups within the prison estate;
Further assistance for prisoners preparing for release;
The increasing access to volunteers and cultural advisors across
institutions;
The establishment of the Professional Standards Unit;
Developments in monitoring and inspection provisions.
All of these steps should be subject to continued review and, hopefully,
consolidation. One key factor that may well downgrade many of these
advances is the rising numbers of those detained. Increasing prison
populations, in particular, risk undermining the gains made over the last few
years. Building a rights-based culture requires, above all else, a reduction in
the numbers of prisoners across institutions.
Together with the issue of prisoner growth, there remain other points of
consideration. These include:
There is a need for continued attention to ensure that basic material
needs (including the right to property) of prisoners are met;
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