Department of Corrections (New Zealand)
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| Department of Corrections Ara Poutama Aotearoa |
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| Logo of the New Zealand Department of Corrections | |
| Department overview | |
| Formed | October 1, 1995 |
| Jurisdiction | New Zealand |
| Employees | 7184 full time equivalent (FTE) staff (30 June 2009) |
| Minister responsible | Anne Tolley, Minister of Corrections |
| Department executive | Ray Smith, Chief executive |
| Website | |
| http://www.corrections.govt.nz/ | |
The Department of Corrections was established on 1 October 1995, following government decisions on the recommendations of the Review of the New Zealand Department of Justice in 1994. In effect the Department of Justice was divided into the Department of Corrections and the Ministry of Justice.[1] The Department is part of the national public service of New Zealand. Its core responsibility is the management of the New Zealand corrections system which includes the Prison Service and the Probation Service - which manages offenders in the community. In early 2006, the Department officially adopted the Māori name Ara Poutama Aotearoa.
New Zealand's Minister of Corrections is Anne Tolley and the Associate Minister is Pita Sharples. See Minister of Corrections (New Zealand) for a list of previous Ministers.
Contents |
Chief Executives
Corrections was led for its first ten years by Chief Executive, Mark G. Byers. Byers retired from the public service in 2005 and was replaced by Barry Matthews. Matthews was a former Deputy Commissioner of Police in New Zealand and was for a time the Commissioner of the Western Australian Police Force. He served as chief executive for five years and, in a farewell interview, listed his top three achievements as the implementation of cell phone blocking technology in New Zealand prisons, better enforcement by the Probation Service of sentence compliance and the establishment of the Professional Standards Unit to investigates corruption by prison officers.[2]
In the last few years, there has also been considerable public concern about the management of the Department. As Opposition spokesman for justice from 2006 through to 2008, Simon Power made a number of calls for a inquiry into Corrections.[3] An inquiry was never held, but media speculation continued. In 2009 chief executive Barry Matthews' leadership was questioned by the new Corrections Minister, Judith Collins, after a series of public relations disasters which included the death of 17-year-old Liam Ashley in a prison van;[4] the murder of Karl Kuchenbecker by Graeme Burton six months after he was released on parole;[5] and the Auditor General's critical report on the Probation Service's management of parolees.[6] Mr Matthews exacerbated speculation about his leadership during the Burton debacle when he claimed: "There's no blood on my hands".[7] After the Auditor General's report was released in 2009, Ms Collins refused to express confidence in Mr Matthews and media commentators expected him to resign. However, Matthews refused to do so and served out his term; on his retirement he admitted he had dealt with so many crises, the Department was like 'a landmine' .[8]
In 2010, Mr Matthews was replaced by Ray Smith, former deputy chief executive of Work and Income and former deputy chief executive of the Ministry of Social Development's Child, Youth and Family.[9] Only six months into his five year term, Mr Smith said he intends to shuffle the Department's $1.1 billion annual budget to focus more on rehabilitation and wants his legacy to be a significant reduction in New Zealand's high reoffending rates.[10]
Growth of the Department
Up till 2011, the Department has had to cope with a dramatic growth in the prison population: the number of inmates has increased by over 70% since its inception.[11] In the last ten years, new prisons have been built to accommodate the increase. Under Helen Clark's leadership, the Labour Government built four more prisons,[12] at Ngawha (Northern Region) - housing 420 prisoners, Springhill (north of Huntly) housing 840, Auckland Womens' holding 330 and Milton (Otago) holding 425 - at a total cost of $890 million.[13] When National came to power in 2008, the Department built a new 1,000 bed prison at Mt Eden in a public private partnership and gave the contract to Serco.[14] The new prison cost $218 million.[15] As at December 2011, New Zealand has a total of 20 prisons and the Department employs over 8,000 staff.[16] In addition to the more than $1 billion spent building these new prisons, the Department's operating budget is also over $1 billion a year.[10]
The Department's growth has been such that in July 2010, Finance Minister Bill English expressed concerns that Government spending was "led by a rapidly expanding prison system which would soon make Corrections the government's biggest department".[17] Despite Mr English's concerns, after an EPA hearing in May 2011, the Department was given permission to build another prison at Wiri - at an estimated cost of nearly $400 million.[18]
The Department's Statutory Responsibilities
Section 5 of the Corrections Act 2004 says the purpose of the corrections system is to improve public safety and contribute to the maintenance of a just society.[19] The legislation establishes three means of achieving this:
1) By ensuring that custodial sentences (imprisonment) and community based sentences and orders imposed by New Zealand's Courts and the New Zealand Parole Board are administered in a safe, secure, humane and effective way - and that its facilities are operated in accordance with rules set out in the Act and are based on the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners;[20]
2) By assisting in the rehabilitation of offenders and their reintegration into the community through the provision of programmes and other interventions. Section 6 of the Act states offenders must be given access to activities that may contribute to their rehabilitation and reintegration into the community "so far as is reasonable and practicable in the circumstances within the resources available."
3) By providing information to the courts and the New Zealand Parole Board to assist them in decision-making.
Structure
The Department is headed by the Chief Executive, Ray Smith, and comprises a number of groups.
Prison Services
Prison Services operates the Department's 20 prisons. Five new prisons have been built in the last 10 years and the building of another prison at Wiri (scheduled to begin in 2012) was approved at an EPA inquiry in 2011.[21] See 'Growth of the Department' above and see also the list of correctional facilities in New Zealand.
Community Probation Services
Community Probation Services manage approximately 100,000 community-based sentences and orders per year, and provide information and reports to judges and the New Zealand Parole Board to assist in reaching sentencing and release decisions. Staff also deliver interventions to offenders and prisoners to address their offending behaviour and prepare them for rejoining society.
Rehabilitation and Reintegration Services
Rehabilitation and Reintegration Services delivers interventions to offenders and prisoners to address their offending behaviour. These involve employment, education, constructive activities, specialised treatment services and offence-focused programmes.
Other Groups
Other groups include Strategy, Policy and Planning which provides strategic planning, policy development and advice, research and evaluation; Finance, Systems and Infrastructure which provides a range of services that support the delivery of Corrections’ core business; Organisational Development which provides strategic advice and day-to-day support and services to the Chief Executive and Corrections managers on structural and culture change, human resource management and development, employee health and safety, employee relations and employment law; and the Office of the Chief Executive which manages key functions on behalf of the Chief Executive and incorporates Business Continuity and Emergency Planning, Corporate Affairs, Internal Audit, Inspectorate, Ministerial Secretariat, Portfolio Management Office, Professional Standards Unit and the Legal Services Team.
Facts and Figures
- Prison population: As at March 31, 2011, there were 8,755 people in prison in New Zealand.[22] Altogether about 20,000 New Zealanders are sent to prison each year,[23] 80% of them on sentences of less than six months.[24] 96% percent of inmates are men and 51% of male inmates are Mäori. Mäori are over-represented on a population basis by 3.5 times.[25] The cost to the taxpayer of keeping one person in prison for 12 months is about $90,000.[26] The Department estimates that a lifetime of offending by one person costs the taxpayer around $3 million.[27]
- Rehabilitation: Nearly 90% of offenders were alcohol or drug affected in the period leading up to their offence.[28] Corrections research suggests that if a rehabilitative programme required as part of the sentence could reform just one high-risk offender, that success would be worth at least $500,000 of ‘benefit’ in the form of avoided costs to Police, Courts, Corrections, income support, and victims.[29] The Department also acknowledges that 90% of prisoners have sub-standard levels of literacy.[30] In 2010, only 1,496 prisoners (out of over 20,000) attended literacy classes. Only 9% (that’s 135 prisoners) were assessed by their tutors as having passed.[31]
- Reintegration: The need for suitable accommodation on release is top of the Corrections Department's list of prisoners' 'reintegrative needs'. The Department funds two halfway houses in New Zealand with a total of 28 beds.[32] Less than 1% of the 9,000 prisoners released each year go into them.[33] There are no halfway houses funded by Corrections in the North Island where the bulk of prisoners are held. There are no halfway houses for women funded by Corrections anywhere in the country. 70% of prisoners reoffend within two years of being released from prison and 52% return to prison within five years (some of them more than once). For teenage prisoners, the recidivism rate (return to prison) is 71%.[34] Parole Board chairman David Carruthers has identified the lack of halfway houses in New Zealand as a factor contributing to the country's poor reintegration record.[35]
References
- ^ Newbold, G. (2007) The problem of prisons : corrections reform in New Zealand since 1840. Wellington, Dunmore Publishers
- ^ Farewell interview with Barry Matthews, Corrections News, Nov/Dec, 2010, p 3.
- ^ Power calls for inquiry into Corrections Press Release: New Zealand National Party, January 23, 2006.
- ^ Go-ahead for waist restraints, NZ Herald, Feb 21, 2008.
- ^ Kuchenbecker case against police to be heard in court today, Dec 19, 2011.
- ^ Report of the Controller & Auditor General New Zealand, Department of Corrections: Managing offenders on parole, Kevin Brady, February 2009.
- ^ There's no blood on my hands', says Corrections chief, NZ Herald, March 6, 2007.
- ^ Prisons boss ends six years' hard labour, NZ Herald, Dec 21, 2010.
- ^ "New Corrections boss". The New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10689526. Retrieved 2012-02-04.
- ^ a b Prisons boss puts focus on changing inmates' lives, NZ Herald, June 8, 2011.
- ^ NZ housing 'still way overpriced' says English, NZ Herald, July 1, 2010.
- ^ Tough justice a hardy campaign perennial, NZ Herald, Feb 4, 2012.
- ^ Cost of prisoner upkeep soars, Dominion Post, July 30, 2007.
- ^ Controversial private prison opens, NZ Herald, Feb 4,2012.
- ^ It's a prison, so colour it orange (and green), March 31, NZ Herald, 2011.
- ^ Guard who smuggled drugs to inmates charged, NZ Herald, April 28, 2011.
- ^ NZ housing 'still way overpriced' says English, NZ Herald, July 1, 2010.
- ^ Official nod makes Wiri biggest prison precinct, NZ Herald, August 2, 2011.
- ^ Section 5 of the Corrections Act 2004 No 50 (as at 19 September 2011), Public Act
- ^ Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners Adopted by the First United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, Geneva 1955, and approved by the Economic and Social Council by its resolutions 663 C (XXIV) of 31 July 1957 and 2076 (LXII) of 13 May 1977:
- ^ Final Report and Decision of the Board of Inquiry into the Proposed Men’s Correctional Facility at Wiri produced under section 149R of the Resource Management Act.
- ^ World Prison Brief, New Zealand, International Centre for Prison Studies,
- ^ Health in Justice:Improving the health of prisoners and their families and whānau, Ministry of Health July 2010, p 23.
- ^ Harpham D. 2010. Offender Volumes Report 2009. Wellington: Department of Corrections.
- ^ About Time: Report from the Department of Corrections to the Minister of Corrections, May 2001, p 3.
- ^ Challenges and choices; New Zealands long term fiscal statement, NZ Treasury, p42
- ^ About Time, p 28.
- ^ About Time, p 50.
- ^ About Time, p 44.
- ^ Prisoner Skills and Employment Strategy, 2009-2012, p 7.
- ^ Corrections Department Annual Report, 2009-2010, p 37.
- ^ The Department uses the term Community Residential Centres rather than halfway house. It funds the Salisbury Street Trust in Christchurch and jointly funds Moana House in Dunedin with the Ministry of Health.
- ^ Compare this figure with Canada where 60% of federal prisoners are released into halfway houses. Amey Bell & Shelley Trevethan, Community Residential Facilities in Canada, Correctional Service of Canada, p i.
- ^ Reconviction patterns of released prisoners: A 60-months follow-up analysis March 2009, Arul Nadesu, Principal Strategic Adviser, Department of Corrections, pp 6-7
- ^ Halfway houses key to cutting reoffending rates: parole chief, NZ Herald, Oct 12, 2010.
