Staffing shortages and the increasing number of people being remanded in custody ahead of trials or sentencing continues to put pressure on New Zealand’s prisons system.
Figures released to The Timaru Herald under the Official Information Act, on the last working day before Christmas 2023, confirm a prisoner population of 8978 at October 31, 2023, a jump of 975 from 9½ months earlier.
Four days later, the Department of Corrections reported it had 369.9 officer staffing vacancies, which is an improvement on the 441 vacancies in November 2022 and the 468 vacancies from February 2023.
Prisoner numbers hit a high of 10,820 in March 2020, before dropping to about 7500 in early 2022, but have continued to rise again since.
While Corrections had a “physical capacity” of 11,385 prisoners in the 18 prisons across the country, when these figures were released the number of “open beds” was 2129 lower at 9256, which left a spare beds margin of 278 – given the most recent prison population number was 8978.
Corrections’ national commissioner Leigh Marsh said: “The number of open beds is not static and is based on a number of factors, including the availability of staff to meet required ratios of staff to prisoners.”
However, that meant that on October 31, Whanganui Prison had more “on-site prisoners” than “open beds” with 532 prisoners and 527 beds.
Christchurch Men’s Prison had one “open bed” remaining with an on-site population of 785 even though its capacity was 944.
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS/Stuff
Corrections officer staffing levels broken down by prison as at November 3, 2023.
Nearby Rolleston Prison had 417 prisoners (420 open beds) and Manawatu prison’s margin was also three at 251 open beds and 248 prisoners. Tongariro, Waikeria and Whanganui prisons all had margins of five.
Marsh said the situation “was more complex through the need to manage unlocked groups of prisoners separately from each other – for example: remand and sentenced prisoners; prisoners with different security classifications; multiple gang affiliations and segregated and non-segregated prisoners”.
“When fewer staff are available, there are a range of operational decisions we can make to best manage capacity.
“These include increasing the number of beds we can safely have open and moving prisoners between sites.”
Marsh admitted Corrections was currently managing staffing pressures with figures showing no prison fully staffed.
Rimutaka Prison has 68.4 vacancies, Mt Eden Corrections Facility 61.8 and Christchurch Men’s 40.5. They are followed by Northland Region 28, Tongariro 24, Otago 22.2, Whanganui 22, Hawke’s Bay 19, Manawatū 17, Waikeria and Auckland 12, Invercargill 11, Rolleston 10, Christchurch Women’s 9, Spring Hill 6.6, Arohata 5, Auckland Region Women’s 1.4.
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS/Stuff
A table showing the number of open beds, the one-site population, and the physical capacity of each prison, as at October 31, 2023.
“We have a significant recruitment effort under way … we have been facing ongoing challenges related to our staffing levels.
“We fully acknowledge the pressure this has placed on staff working in prisons, which is why we have been making a concerted effort to recruit, retain and train.
“This includes launching a recruitment campaign, strengthening our recruitment processes, improving our onboarding processes, and continuously working to improve staff safety. As a result, we’ve seen an increase in the number of job applications for new corrections officers.
“So far we have received more than 14,200 applications since 1 October 2022. We have also recruited more than 900 people into corrections officer roles, with many more in the recruitment pipeline.”
TVNZ
Corrections Association secretary Mark Duncan says prisons are full for the number of staff they have. (Video first published April 26, 2023)
Marsh also said an increase in the remand population had driven an increase in the overall prison “population”.
“On May 23, 2022, the number of prisoners on remand was 3031, which was 40% of the prison population.
“As at November 6, 2023, the number of prisoners on remand was 3897, which was 43% of the prison population.”
Marsh said measures to cope with the issue had included “a reconfiguration of the prison population to ensure we have capacity for the right security classifications in the right places” along with “adapting rosters to improve efficiency” and opening additional capacity.
Marsh said Corrections could also “temporarily pause some activities or reduce the time prisoners spend unlocked”.
“While we are not looking at this at this stage, if faced with a significant increase in the prison population over a short period of time, this would enable us to securely manage all prisoners remanded into our custody while keeping our staff safe, which is our top priority.”
