OFFICE OF THE INSPECTORATE Te Tari Tirohia

26 May 2025

Three more prison inspections announced

The Office of the Inspectorate has announced the locations of the next three prison inspections for the 2025/2026 reporting year. They will be:

• Otago Corrections Facility
• Whanganui (including the New Plymouth Remand Centre)
• Auckland Region Women’s Corrections Facility (include the Nikau Unit on the grounds of Waikeria Prison)

The dates of the inspections are to be confirmed soon.

Inspections are guided by Inspection Standards, which describe the standards of treatment of prisoners and conditions that prisons are expected to achieve.

Inspectors make their assessments with four key principles in mind to ensure that prisoners are treated in a fair, safe, secure and humane way. The principles are: safety, respect, purposeful activity and reintegration.

The Inspection Standards require inspectors to consider 10 areas of prison life: leadership; prison staff; reception, induction and escorts; duty of care; health (including substance use, mental health and disabled prisoners); environment; good order; purposeful activity; rehabilitation; and reintegration.

The prison inspection report will be published on the Inspectorate website in due course.

The Office of the Inspectorate is authorised under section 29(1)(b) of the Corrections Act 2004 to undertake inspections and visits to prisons. Inspection assessments are guided by four key principles of safety, respect, purposeful activity and reintegration.