OFFICE OF THE INSPECTORATE Te Tari Tirohia

25 January 2022

Message from Janis Adair, Chief Inspector:

As New Zealand has moved to Red under the Covid-19 Protection Framework (the “traffic light system”), the Office of the Inspectorate will continue its important work to ensure that all people in prison are treated in a fair, safe, secure and humane way.  This is especially important given the impact that restrictions to manage the spread of Omicron will have on prisoners and their family and whānau.

We will seek early resolution opportunities for all complaints and issues, to ensure matters are resolved in a timely way, if possible. This will also enable us to identify any emerging risks and challenges in the corrections system.

The best way to contact us is by telephone (0800 225 697) or email: inspectorate@corrections.govt.nz.

If you have a family or whānau member in prison, please look at the Corrections website (https://www.corrections.govt.nz/), which has information about how Corrections is responding to the COVID-19 situation (including email addresses you can use to contact someone in prison).

I am committed to working in a way that is agile and responsive during these challenging times. We will continue to communicate any changes to how we work as the Covid situation evolves.

The Inspectorate is part of the Department of Corrections, but we are operationally independent from the matters we investigate to ensure objectivity and integrity.