Human Rights and Prisons - Rethinking Crime and Punishment
Human Rights and Prisons - Rethinking Crime and Punishment
Human Rights and Prisons - Rethinking Crime and Punishment
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In September 2009, a „Rehabilitation <strong>and</strong> Reintegration Services‟ group was<br />
established. This group is tasked with streamlining service delivery <strong>and</strong> is<br />
responsible for sentence management <strong>and</strong> pre-release plans, rehabilitation<br />
programmes, psychological services, specialist treatments as well as prisoner<br />
employment <strong>and</strong> education.<br />
5.1 Administration of Time<br />
Law <strong>and</strong> policy framework<br />
The administration of time is established through management plans, that<br />
apply to all prisoners who are detained for more than two months. Plans must<br />
be based on an assessment of the needs, capacities, <strong>and</strong> disposition of the<br />
prisoner; they must provide for their safe, secure <strong>and</strong> humane containment;<br />
they must outline how prisoners can make constructive use of their time in<br />
prison; <strong>and</strong> they must detail preparations for release <strong>and</strong> successful<br />
community reintegration (Corrections Act, s51(4)). The Prison Service<br />
Offender Management Manual outlines the assessment tools for this process.<br />
An 8am to 5pm unlock regime is now st<strong>and</strong>ard policy for all high security<br />
units. This regime can also be operationalised in other units, <strong>and</strong> is principally<br />
dependent upon staffing levels.<br />
Issues<br />
For most prisoners, prison life „is essentially life on the l<strong>and</strong>ings‟ (McDermott<br />
<strong>and</strong> King, 2008:282). The „pervasive mood‟, for staff <strong>and</strong> prisoners alike, is<br />
boredom (The Ombudsmen‟s Office, 2007:60). This mood is intensified with<br />
the use of long lock-down periods in which prisoners will have no access to<br />
social activities, prison facilities, visitors or phone calls. The NZ National<br />
Health Committee (2010:33) has recently noted that the boredom of<br />
imprisonment, <strong>and</strong> the isolation of prisoners, can lead to anger, frustration,<br />
anxiety <strong>and</strong> trouble. They detail that prisoners „also described how a lack of<br />
meaningful activity weakened their mental health <strong>and</strong> encouraged drug taking,<br />
bad behaviour, <strong>and</strong> aggression‟.<br />
Lock-down times are dependent on a host of factors including security<br />
classifications (higher-risk prisoners have shorter unlock hours), prisoner<br />
safety (those deemed at risk from others/themselves can be locked down for<br />
longer), limited facilities (with lockdown used to keep rem<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> sentenced<br />
prisoners separated), <strong>and</strong> staff shortages <strong>and</strong> absences.<br />
During 2007 <strong>and</strong> 2008, there were reports of early lockdowns at a number of<br />
prisons – Rimutaka, Arohata, Wellington <strong>and</strong> Waikeria – as a consequence of<br />
staff shortages <strong>and</strong> budgetary restraints (Cheng, 2007; Prison Fellowship,<br />
2008). The Howard League for Penal Reform also reported increasing<br />
complaints about longer lockdowns during 2008-9 (Howard League, 2009).<br />
Prison Fellowship stated that the lockdown in Rimutaka had an impact on the<br />
(religious, educational, work or recreational) programmes that could be<br />
pursued in the Faith-based Unit. The use of lockdowns <strong>and</strong> their impact,<br />
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