Prison inspections resume
1 May 2023
Last month a team from the Office of the Inspectorate visited Manawatu Prison to complete fieldwork for an announced prison inspection.
Speaking with staff, prisoners and a range of community partners both on and off site is an important part of our inspection methodology, allowing our team to explore all aspects of prison life.
The prison inspection report will be published on our website later this year.
“Inspections provide a ‘window into prisons’, giving early warning of emerging risks and challenges, and highlighting areas of innovation and good practice,” says Chief Inspector Janis Adair. “Inspections play a critical part in ensuring independent oversight of the corrections system.”
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 the Inspection Standards, which describe the standards of treatment of prisoners and conditions that prisons are expected to achieve. The Inspection Standards have recently been supplemented by a new series of Leadership Standards, and the Manawatu Prison inspection saw these being used for the first time.
Following the Manawatu Prison, further inspections will take place at Christchurch Men’s Prison and Northland Region Corrections Facility before the end of 2023.
