The assignment in a cell varies according to the sex of the prisoners, the offence committed, the age of the offender.

Every person taken into custody by the police must fill out a risk assessment form (Health and Safety Management Plan for Person in Custody). The police officers then centralize all information in electronic records. They must decide whether the person is at risk of suicide or self-harm or not. Police staff and Corrections officers believe they are not properly trained to carry out this activity correctly.

The Chief Inspector of Corrections has undertaken to conduct an investigation on events occurred in prison. The report notes “widespread failings by the private prison provider including violence, drug use, haphazard staffing, and unhygienic conditions within the jail”. These allegations led to the Department of Correction’s decision to resume its contract with Serco, the British enterprise running Mount Eden since 2009.

Beven Hanlon, corrections Association industrial officer, declared that assaults in New Zealand prisons occur almost daily. He considers that prison officers are not properly equipped to step-in and break-up prison fights¹.

Mount Eden male prison is known for being one of the prisons with the highest rates of assault, with one inmate assaulted nearly every three days. At the end of March 2015, 115 inmates were assaulted at Mount Eden Prison. Seven of them were subjected to serious physical or sexual assaults and had to be taken to the hospital. In early 2016, video evidence emerged which supported allegations that a ‘fight club’, in which prisoners were coerced into fighting each other, was operating at the Mount Eden Corrections Facility. Fights took place inside cells and happened “at least once a week”². There was no CCTV system installed in the prison.

Inmates can file complaints against the penitentiary administration.

The SPT noted the fact that it was not able to verify the status of prisoner’s complaints against staff and suggested they were not being considered promptly or properly. The SPT was also concerned over the fact that request and complaints were being submitted on the form and processed the same way: “As a result, simple requests are not dealt with quickly, and serious complaints can be trivialised.”¹

Prisoners can make complaints via the internet, writing or by phone.

Making complaints to the Ombudsman can be done via email, fax, mail, or by downloading the online complaints form from their official website.

The Government allows international monitoring of prisons. In the recent years, the UN Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention made visits and publish reports on the state of prisons in New Zealand.

The adjustment of sentences is authorized by the judge.