Spring Hill Corrections Facility inspection report released
21 July 2026
The Office of the Inspectorate today released its inspection report for Spring Hill Corrections Facility.
At the time of the inspection, the site had 829 prisoners.
“Overall, while we found some areas of positive practice, we had serious concerns with conditions in some areas of the prison, and with certain practices and processes,” said Chief Inspector Janis Adair.
Spring Hill opened in 2007 as an ‘end destination’ site for 650 sentenced prisoners. Over the last ten years, it has essentially become a remand site, with 76% of prisoners on remand at the time of the inspection. This change in population was proving a challenge for the site’s infrastructure and staff alike.
Custodial staffing levels were at 94%, but we found that morale was low amongst custodial staff and unplanned absences (such as sick leave) were common. This often left units short-staffed. In addition, a high proportion (38%) of custodial staff had less than two years of experience working in a New Zealand prison, and many senior and principal corrections officers also lacked experience in their roles.
“The lack of availability of custodial staff and the unsuitable infrastructure had significant impacts across the prison,” said Ms Adair.
Non-custodial staff, including health staff, case managers and education tutors, could find it challenging to access prisoners. This left them frustrated and concerned about the welfare of the prisoners under their care and management.
“We heard about, and observed, several concerning security issues,” said Ms Adair. Staff and prisoners told us contraband was readily available, and there had been no drug testing at the site for five years (drug testing recommenced in November 2025).
The health team was nearly fully staffed and providing a good level of care when they could access patients. Morale was high in the health team, but many felt unsupported by custodial staff, and some did not always feel safe as custodial staff would sometimes leave them unsupervised with prisoners.
We also found a number of examples of notable positive practice, including:
- The site had weekly multidisciplinary team meetings to triage all mental health referrals as a single point of entry into the service. This functioned well, with a good collaborative approach.
- Two wings had been established for prisoners with age-related health issues or lower cognitive skills who could be at risk in a mainstream unit. This provided an environment that mitigated risks to safety.
- The Special Treatment Unit was run as a therapeutic community which offered offence-focused rehabilitation programmes. We found much good practice, including wing mentors, daily community meetings and cultural celebrations.
“I expect the site to build on their Initial Action Plan to address the findings of this report. I look forward to working with the site as I continue to monitor progress,” Ms Adair said.
Spring Hill Corrections Facility is situated in north Waikato.
The Office of the Inspectorate is a critical part of the independent oversight of the Corrections system and operates under the Corrections Act 2004 and the Corrections Regulations 2005. While part of Corrections, the Inspectorate is operationally independent, to ensure objectivity and integrity.
The inspection process provides an ongoing insight into prisons and provides assurance that shortcomings are identified and addressed in a timely way, and that examples of good practice are acknowledged and shared across the prison network.
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