Whanganui Prison inspection report
15 September 2026
Whanganui Prison inspection report released
The Office of the Inspectorate today released its inspection report for Whanganui Prison and the New Plymouth Remand Centre.
At the time of the inspection, the prison had 522 prisoners. The New Plymouth Remand Centre has capacity for 24 prisoners.
“Overall, Whanganui Prison was operating well, with staff across all areas of the site demonstrating positive engagement and strong rapport with prisoners,” said Chief Inspector Janis Adair. “A range of employment and education opportunities were available to many prisoners, and it was a generally clean and well-maintained site.”
Positive initiatives included an improved approach to administering controlled medications, resulting in efficiencies for staff and prisoners, and free electrical safety checks for prisoners’ property.
“The inspection identified several areas that require improvement,” said Ms Adair. “While staff had high trust and confidence in the prison’s leadership overall, some concerns were raised about the behaviour of some senior managers and some staff lacked confidence that their concerns would be taken seriously by leaders.”
Some concerns were also raised about staff safety. Non-custodial staff raised the issue of being locked in interview rooms with prisoners or feeling unsafe due to not being able to easily get the attention of custodial staff.
“It was pleasing to see many prisoners employed in the various industries on site working towards qualifications and high completion rates for prisoners participating in Te Tirohanga (the kaupapa Māori rehabilitation programme),” said Ms Adair. “But there were limited rehabilitation opportunities for high security, remand and segregated prisoners.”
Some concerns were identified with health services at the prison, such as some inconsistent approaches to managing health requests, delays in some health services, and concerningly, health staff had not completed core primary mental health training.
The New Plymouth Remand Centre is managed as part of Whanganui Prison. It was established in 2013 in the New Plymouth Police Station building. The Remand Centre is operated by Corrections and shares a reception area and health room with the Police. It accommodates both men and women.
Whanganui Prison will develop an action plan to address the findings for improvement in this report. “I look forward to working with the site as I continue to monitor progress,” said Ms Adair.
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.