Human Rights and Prisons - Rethinking Crime and Punishment

Reconviction and reimprisonment rates tend to be higher for younger
offenders (those under 20) and for those whose offences (such as burglary,
theft and car conversion) are more common. Those who „survive‟ outside
prison – and are not returned – are often those who have served just one
sentence of imprisonment. Conversely, „the more time in the past someone
has been in prison, the more likely they are to return to prison following any
given release‟ (ibid:19).
Part of the problem, here, may be that sentencers use custody too readily,
without a real understanding of the consequences. For instance, drawing on
British data, Hedderman (2008:34) details that sentencers are employing
custody less effectively – by sending those convicted of relatively minor
offences (theft or handling) to prison for short periods of time. The resultant
disruption to offenders‟ lives – such as with employment, accommodation and
the strain on family lives – contributes to a situation in which reoffending is
more likely to occur. Indeed, recent UK Ministry of Justice (2011:4) analysis,
from a sample of 180,746 offenders, has determined that custodial sentences
of less than twelve months are „less effective at reducing re-offending than
both community orders and suspended sentence orders – between 5 and 9
percentage points‟.
3.1 The Growth in Prisoner Numbers
The 2004 Human Rights Commission Report – „Human Rights in New
Zealand Today‟ – detailed that, in June 2003, the total prison population was
6,115. The report highlighted the need to upgrade prisons, to avoid situations
of over-capacity, and to increase the availability of alternatives to prisons.
Since that time, prisoner numbers have continued to grow steadily, rising by
around a further 30 per cent. Figures from 30 June 2010 show the prison
population at a new peak of 8,816.
When, in 2007, prisoner numbers reached what was then an all time high of
8,484 (a figure which has sinced been surpassed several times), they
reflected an imprisonment rate of over 190 per 100,000 population.
Compared to Australia (about 126 per 100,000) and many European states
(that have rates under 100 per 100,000), these rates were significant and they
were regarded as a source of shame by many government officials and
commentators (Palmer, 2006). As then Justice Minister Mark Burton (New
Zealand Parliament, 2007:2) noted
New Zealand locks up people at the second-highest rate in the Western
World. That is something we are not proud of. No one in this country
should be proud of that.
Such statements underpinned the roll-out of the „Effective Interventions‟
package that focused on, among other things, bolstering community-based
responses to offenders. In October 2007, the sentences of home detention,
community detention and intensive supervision were introduced and, in 2008,
they accounted for about 7% of all sentences (Ministry of Justice, 2009a).
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