Human Rights and Prisons - Rethinking Crime and Punishment

to be built in Wiri, South Auckland, and there are also plans to develop
further units at existing prisons.
The re-opening of previously mothballed facilities: A number of facilities
have also been reopened to cope with growing demand. Wellington
Prison re-opened on 6 July 2009, offering 120 beds. Two 60-bed units
were re-established at Tongariro/Rangipo Prison in September 2009.
There are also plans to re-open units at Waikeria Prison.
The increased use of „double-bunking‟: This occurs when two prisoners
are housed in one cell, often „designed for one prisoner‟
(Ombudsmen‟s Office, 2005:26). Increased double-bunking has been
rolled out across numerous prisons (including Auckland Women‟s,
Spring Hill, Otago, Ngawha and Mt Eden) to create space for 1,000
more prisoners. In 2009, Corrections Minister Judith Collins estimated
that double-bunking was already done in a fifth of prison space (Gower,
2009). The Corrections Association unsuccessfully took legal action
against the Department in the Employment Court (and to the Court of
Appeal) on the basis that double-bunking breached their collective
agreement.
The use of police cells (and occasionally court cells) to accommodate
prisoners: During the capacity crisis in 2005/06, prisoners spent over
57,000 bed nights in police cells, at a total cost of $15.8 million (Power,
2007). Prisoners were also held in court cells at that time. Since then,
the number of nights that prisoners have spent in police cells has
fallen, to 17,181 in 2009/10. Many prisoners are now held in police
cells for purposes other than managing prison capacities, such as to
facilitate court appearances, particularly in courts that are distant from
the nearest prison. A Memorandum of Understanding between the
Department of Corrections and Police provides that a total of 175 cells
are available for holding prisoners. Of these, there are 133 Police cells
across 18 sites in which prisoners can be safely and humanely held for
more than 24 hours. While police officers are provided with guidance
on appropriate practices – such that prisoners are entitled to:
appropriate bedding, appropriate food and drink, sanitary facilities,
statutory and specified visitors, send and receive mail, and make
telephone calls (Ministry of Justice, 2007) – these are not always
practically possible.
The use of other unsuitable spaces to accommodate prisoners: With
regard to Christchurch Men‟s prison, the Ombudsmen‟s Office (2005)
noted that between 1 January to 14 October 2005, over 100 prisoners
had been placed in punishment cells because ordinary cells were not
available. These cells have austere and very limited facilities. More
recently, in relation to the same prison, the Howard League for Penal
Reform (2007) detailed that officials had been forced to open „disaster
recovery beds‟ to cope with numbers.
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