OFFICE OF THE INSPECTORATE Te Tari Tirohia

8 July 2025

Inspection of Otago Corrections Facility to take place in September 2025

A team from the Office of the Inspectorate will visit Otago Corrections Facility in September 2025 to complete fieldwork for an announced prison inspection. Terms of reference are here.

Speaking with staff, prisoners and a range of stakeholders on and off site is an important part of our inspection methodology, allowing our team to explore all aspects of prison life.

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.

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

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.