New Zealand
Oceania
Access to legal rights
Social ties
New Zealand
Spring Hill Corrections Facility in Waikato is one of three prisons still closed to outsiders, but Corrections says it intends to restart limited visits on May 13. National commissioner Leigh Marsh said staff were working incredibly hard to resume visits as quickly as possible.“We understand that r…
Source — RNZ
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Oceania
Material conditions
Facilities
New Zealand
Prison labour is being used to build the new parts of Waikeria Prison, the site of a riot 18 months ago.
Source — RNZ
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Oceania
Facilities
New Zealand
“Once there is a take-over, they will be subjected to the pool of challenges we face at the Department of Correctional Services,” acting national commissioner Makgothi Thobakgale said. Thobakgale made the statement when briefing the portfolio committee on their readiness to take over the Mangaung a…
Source — IOL
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Oceania
Health
Drugs
New Zealand
Corrections cut its AOD (Alcohol and Other Drug) Brief Support Programme and its AOD Intermediate Treatment Programme in 2018, which has seen a massive drop in the number of prisoners receiving treatment. Corrections continue to offer drug treatment programmes ranging from three to 12 months long,…
Source — RNZ
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Oceania
Protest
Violence
New Zealand
There are now three investigations under way, as well as a High Court civil rights case by the prisoners against the Attorney General and Corrections, and other claims against the Crown in the Waitangi Tribunal.
Public debate about how prisons are run and their place in society has also heated up.I…
Source — Stuff
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Oceania
Mental health
Violence
New Zealand
Documents obtained by RNZ shows Auckland Women’s Prison planned to keep Mihi Bassett in a segregation unit known as the pound “indefinitely” - breaking laws governing how, and how long, prisoners can be held there.
Guards also threatened to pepper-spray her minutes after she attempted suicide. In o…
Source — RNZ News
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New Zealand: managing uncertainty
Analysis
Coronavirus
Oceania
Material conditions
Activities
Social ties
Work
New Zealand
As the COVID-19 outbreaks around the world suprised most governments, how did the New Zealand authorities respond to the crisis behind the bars? Were prison authorities prepared to avoid the spread of the virus? Which measures were taken and how did them impact prisoners’ lives?
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Women
Oceania
Access to legal rights
Justice
Material conditions
Violence
New Zealand
Corrections broke its own rules and regulations multiple times in its treatment of Mihi Bassett and Karma Cripps, who were gassed in their cells and forced to perform a humiliating ritual to be fed, Manukau District Court Judge David McNaughton says.
His ruling also confirms the women had to remov…
Source — Rnz
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Coronavirus
Oceania
Health
Material conditions
Protest
New Zealand
The recent six-day Waikeria protest highlighted problems at that prison, but it is not unique.
The December Ombudsman’s report on Auckland Prison at Paremoremo similarly identified poor cell ventilation, evening meals served as early as 2.30pm and 3.30pm, prisoners locked up in cells 22–23 hours a…
Source — Newsroom
Read more Nouvelle-Zélande: une prison entièrement détruite après six jours d’émeutes
News
Oceania
Access to legal rights
Material conditions
Protest
Violence
New Zealand
This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: French
Coronavirus
Oceania
Health
New Zealand
Women at an Auckland prison have been routinely confined to their cells for periods of up to 29 hours at a stretch - well outside the law, which says they should get at least one hour out of their cells a day.
RNZ took evidence of the lockdown hours including a recently released prisoner’s diary, t…
Source — Newshub
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Activities
Work
New Zealand
Fresh vegetables can be expensive at Christmas time, but needy Auckland families will be able to get some for free this year courtesy of New Zealand’s toughest prison.
Boxes filled with fresh prison-grown veggies have been donated to the Salvation Army to distribute among families and individuals.
Source — RNZ
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Women
Oceania
Health
New Zealand
Prisoners have been isolated and babies put into quarantine at Auckland Region Women’s Corrections Facility over fears of a measles outbreak.
On Tuesday night, Corrections informed Newshub there were concerns three female prisoners had been exposed to measles. They will remain isolated until their…
Source — Newshub
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Asia
Oceania
New Zealand
More than $1 million of taxpayer money has been spent on 193 slushy machines in a bid to keep prison guards cool over summer.
Source — NewstalkZB
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Oceania
New Zealand
The prison muster has tipped over 10,000 again, but the declining trend has Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis looking to phase out double bunking and retiring “cramped horrible cells”.
The current prison population, considered to be at crisis level a year ago, was at 10,039 last week - 300 higher t…
Source — NZ Herald
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Uruguay: cárceles “pobres” e “inhumanas”
News
South America
Torture
New Zealand
This article is not available in English. This article is available in the following versions: Spanish
Oceania
Drugs
New Zealand
The latest figures for prison contraband and drug testing have revealed a mixed picture in the South.
Source — Otago Daily Times
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Oceania
New Zealand
A sports programme which is being piloted in New Zealand prisons aims for a reduction in reoffending.
Not only does physical activity help prisoners with their wellbeing and mental health, but it could help them into employment, according to UK Professor of Criminological Psychology Rosie Meek.
“Sp…
Source — Stuff
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Oceania
New Zealand
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) last week handed over its decade-long prison support programme aimed at improving prison management, infrastructure rehabilitation, food supply chain management and treatment of detained mental health patients, to the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correcti…
Source — News Day
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