List of prisons in New Zealand
[1] Northland Region Corrections Facility is located 5 km northeast of the town of Kaikohe and is colloquially known as Ngawha – after the local area.
Maori in Northland tried to persuade the Corrections Department not to upset a local taniwha by building the prison on thermal land.
In November 2011, a Drug Treatment Unit (DTU) was established with clinical staff coming from Odyssey House.
In 2004 the Department acknowledged the prison "falls well-short of the basic requirements for a modern corrections facility";[25] a New Zealand Herald editorial described it as an "antiquated pile beyond redemption as a suitable place to incarcerate humans".
Although it no longer houses inmates, the building has a 'category one' classification from Heritage New Zealand due to its historical significance and architectural quality.
[32] Five years later (July 2015) videos appeared online showing gang members fighting inside MECF.
Allegations were made that there was an organised 'fight club' and that prisoners were filming the fights on cell phones and posting them on social media.
[33] Following an investigation, the Corrections Department stepped in to take over day-to-day management of the prison and then in December, the Government announced that Serco's contract would not be renewed in March 2017.
[34] In 2019 North & South magazine published the story of Pasimaca Osment, who in 1991 became one of the first female prison officers in New Zealand to work in a maximum-security jail.
[36] With so much space available, in 2011 it became the proposed site for a new $900 million 960-bed men's prison which was to be built by 2015 and operated by British conglomerate Serco.
[38] The original plan was for only 150 beds, but a 20 per cent hike in the number of women being sent to prison led to a significant expansion.
Auckland University sociologist Tracey McIntosh says virtually all Maori women in prisons have been physically or sexually abused – and were excluded from school by the age of 13.
In response, Serco disputed several incidents in Te Ao's report and defended the quality of its care and services provided to prisoners.
[63] The Department made the unusual step of spending $7.5 million buying and shipping earthmoving equipment from overseas to complete the prison.
The Department bought eleven 40-tonne all-terrain dump trucks from Scotland, five compactors from America and France and two excavators from South Korea.
[76] In 2000, a 25-year-old prisoner Aupai Bruce Tohu drowned after the waka he was on capsized in choppy weather while taking part in a Maori cultural training course.
Two years earlier, Rangipo prisoner Matthew Neave, aged 30, also drowned after parachuting into Lake Taupō.
[80] In 2001, the health and safety coordinator for the Corrections Association, Brian Davies, issued a report claiming that the use of buckets as toilets was unhygienic and disgusting both for prisoners and guards.
A Faith-Based Unit providing a programme for prisoners centred around the Christian faith was closed in 2012 after evaluation found it had no impact on reducing reoffending.
Prisoners in this unit are taught skills to enable them to live without using violence; this includes conflict resolution, the use of timeout, impulse control and how to challenge their own distorted thinking.
[92] The Corrections Department said a "high dependency unit" will be created for some of the 120 inmates aged over 65 who struggle with daily tasks, such as showering themselves.
[96] Arohata also runs the Kowhiritanga ('Making Choices') Rehabilitation Programme specifically for female prisoners, many of whom have been exposed to sexual and psychological abuse during childhood and in their adult relationships.
[102] In October 2023, staffing pressures led Christchurch Men's Prison to relocate 22 inmates to be transferred to the Otago Corrections Facility.
[106] The prison provides the Kowhiritanga ('Making Choices') rehabilitation programme designed to address the particular needs of female offenders – many of whom have suffered sexual abuse.
Corrections Association of New Zealand (CANZ) vice-president Paul Dennehy expressed concern about OCF staff having to manage increasingly violent prisoners, understaffing, and deteriorating facilities.
[122] In September 2023, the Department of Corrections' acting regional commissioner Glenn Morrison confirmed there were no plans to restructure Invercargill Prison and that the facility would continue to host remand and low-to-medium security category sentenced offenders.
[126] The Mountfort cell block and remaining perimeter walls are a Heritage New Zealand Historic Place Category 2.
In 2012, Corrections Minister, Anne Tolley announced it would be closed "because old prisons didn't suit modern rehabilitation training and education methods.
Inmates worked in nearby forestry areas, did track maintenance for the Department of Conservation, cleared ski-field roads and did the laundry for Tongariro’s famous Grand Chateau Hotel.
[138] In 2012, Corrections Minister, Anne Tolley announced it would be closed permanently "because the old prisons didn't suit modern rehabilitation training and education methods.
