Human Rights and Prisons - Rethinking Crime and Punishment

In New Zealand, the Taunoa judgment established that the prisoners
concerned did not receive adequate information about why they were in
segregation, and the conditions of isolation amounted to punishment. The
loss of entitlements for those segregated prisoners was deemed to be
unjustified.
Following a review, Prison Inspectors recorded (Department of Corrections,
2009c:139) that the current segregation system is „managed in a
conscientious manner‟. While „some minor recording matters‟ were apparent,
segregation was generally „well documented‟ and the needs for segregation
were „appropriate‟. The Inspectors did note that „At smaller prison sites,
limited segregation facilities may at times result in reduced opportunities for
directed segregation prisoners in terms of unlock hours and access to some
mainstream facilities‟. Again, further research on these practices would be
appropriate.
7.5 Personal Safety and Security
Law and policy framework
The Corrections Act states that the purposes of the corrections system include
that sentences are administered in a „safe, secure, humane and effective
manner‟ (s5(1)(a)) and that prison managers and officers are responsible for
“ensuring the safe custody and welfare of prisoners received in the prison”
(s12(b), 14(1)(a)).
Physical Attacks
In 2009/10, there were 32 serious prisoner on prisoner assaults (a rate of 0.39
per 100 prisoners) and two serious prisoner assaults on staff (a rate of 0.02
per 100 prisoners). These figures represent a decrease from the previous
year (2008/09), and they reflect several years of stable and decreasing
assault rates (Department of Corrections, 2010b). New Zealand compares
„favourably‟ with rates of prison assaults within other jurisdictions.
Over the last few years there have been a number of high-profile prisoner
deaths. For instance, in 2006, Sonny Keremete was killed at Hawkes Bay,
and Liam Ashley was beaten and strangled in a Chubb van travelling to Mt
Eden prison. In 2009, the death of Tue Faavae in Auckland‟s maximum
security prison highlighted the ongoing difficulties of managing violence within
the prison environment.
In May 2010, a prison officer, Jason Palmer, was killed at Spring Hill
Corrections Facility. This was the first fatal attack against a member of prison
staff in New Zealand. Concerns about prisoner attacks against staff have
continued to rise among prison staff unions – these have, as shown above,
led to the introduction of new personal protective equipment and weapons.
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