Human Rights and Prisons - Rethinking Crime and Punishment

12. Appendix One
12.1 Legal Framework
This section sets out some of the recent changes (2004 – 2010) that have
been made to the legislative framework that guides policy and practice in
prisons.
The Corrections Act 2004
The Corrections Act 2004 (and Corrections Regulations 2005) replaces the
former corrections regime under the Penal Institutions Act 1954 and
associated regulations, and governs the administration of prisons.
Positive features of the new legislation include:
The explicit reference in the Act‟s purpose statement (s5) to
compliance with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the
Treatment of Prisoners and the inclusion of prisoners‟ minimum
entitlements (for example, related to communications, library services
and education) in the legislation;
The clear reference to the role of the corrections system in providing
rehabilitation and reintegration;
The expansion of complaints provisions and their elevation to primary
legislation;
Improvements to the disciplinary offence regime;
Decisions to segregate prisoners for security or protection reasons to
be reviewed on a monthly, rather than three-monthly, basis;
The inclusion of the Human Rights Commission among the list of
specified statutory visitors able to „visit a prison and have access to a
prisoner(s) or staff at any time as long as the visit is consistent with the
visitor‟s statutory duties‟ (ss 73, 2);
That the Chief Executive and Prison Managers are to obtain advice
from those communities that are significantly affected by Corrections
policies and practices.
The Corrections Act also ended contractual arrangements that allowed for the
private management of prisons. This issue has since been revisited, with
legislation introduced to once again enable prison management to be
contracted to private parties. The Corrections (Contract Management of
Prisons) Amendment Act 2009 includes requirements that contractors comply
with relevant international obligations and standards and report regularly to
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