Department of Corrections (New Zealand)
Department of Corrections | |
Māori : Ara Poutama Aotearoa | |
Jurisdiction | Penal system |
legal form | Public Service Department |
Legal basis | Corrections Act 2004 , Corrections Regulations 2005 and their amendments |
Headquarters | Wellington |
Establishment date | 1995 |
Ministry | Ministry of Justice |
minister |
Andrew Little , Labor Party since October 26, 2017 |
Employee | around 8 000 As of August 2018 |
Website : | www.corrections.govt.nz |
The Department of Corrections , in Māori Ara Poutama Aotearoa , is a Public Service Department in New Zealand that is responsible for the penal system in the country.
The prison system
The Department of Corrections announced as of August 2018, with around 8,000 staff in more than 151 institutions and 18 prisons for approximately from 9,000 to 10,000 prison inmates in New Zealand to be responsible and deal with problem with approximately 30,000 offenders in society.
history
In Māori society , imprisonment as a form of punishment did not exist and among Europeans punishment was known in the form of fines, dungeons, flogging, deportation or execution. The first prisons in New Zealand were built from wood in the 1840s in Russell , Hokianga , Auckland , Wellington , Akaroa , Nelson , New Plymouth and Whanganui , and when New Zealand was divided into provinces with their own provincial governments in 1853 , responsibility for the administration of the prisons passed to the respective provincial governments. In 1878 statistics indicated 641 prisoners in four central prisons and 343 prisoners in around 30 smaller prisons, as well as 70 prisoners who were locally imprisoned.
As a result of the abolition of the provinces in 1876, the penal system in prisons was standardized and the responsibility of the colonial government was returned to it. But the prison system did not get any better for the prisoners. Based on the ideas of British Prison Commissioner Edmund Frederick Du Cane , life in prisons should be harder than outside. As a result, food rations have been cut, smoking banned and communication among prison inmates restricted. But despite the deterrent measures introduced in 1880 by the first prison inspector Arthur Hume , the country's crime rate continued to rise. When Hume retired in 1909, the penal system was reformed under Minister of Justice John Findlay , and reintegration into society became more prominent.
Another reform to improve the prison system was implemented in the 1950s, but suffered as the crime rate continued to rise and convictions led to overcrowded prisons. Drugs, gang formation and violence in prisons were the result.
Since the founding of the Department of Corrections in 1995, the rehabilitation of those convicted and public safety have been at the fore of the agency's activities. The agency's aim is to reduce the number of reoffenders by 25%, which, if the target is reached, would mean 600 fewer prisoners and around 18,500 fewer people would become victims of a crime. The department had set itself the goal for 2017 and unfortunately still refers to it on its website as of August 2018.
Prisons
The Department of Corrections manages prisons in the following locations in New Zealand:
- Northland Region Corrections Facility - in Kaikohe , in the Far North District , in the Northland region
- Auckland Prison - northwest of Auckland city center
- Mt Eden Corrections Facility - in the Mount Eden neighborhoodof Auckland
- Auckland Region Women's Corrections Facility - in the urban area of Manukau Ward in Auckland
- Auckland South Corrections Facility - in Wiri , within the metropolitan area of Manukau Ward in Auckland
- Spring Hill Corrections Facility - in Te Kauwhata , in the Waikato District , in the Waikato Region
- Waikeria Prison - near Te Awamutu , in the Waipa District , in the Waikato Region
- Tongariro Prison - in Turangi , Taupo District , Waikato Region
- New Plymouth Remand Center - in New Plymouth , in the New Plymouth District , in the Taranaki region
- Whanganui Prison - in Wanganui , Whanganui District , Manawatu-Wanganui Region
- Hawke's Bay Regional Prison - in the city of Napier , in the Hawke's Bay region
- Manawatu Prison - in the Linton neighborhoodof Palmerston North city, in the Manawatu-Wanganui region
- Rimutaka Prison - in the town of Upper Hutt , in the Wellington region
- Arohata Prison - in the city of Wellington , in the Wellington region
- Christchurch Men's Prison - in Christchurch , in the Canterbury region
- Christchurch Women's Prison - in Christchurch , in the Canterbury area
- Rolleston Prison - in Rolleston , in the Selwyn District , Canterbury region
- Otago Corrections Facility - in Milburn , in the Clutha District , in the Otago region
- Invercargill Prison - in the town of Invercargill , in the Southland region
Web links
- Homepage . Department of Corrections,accessed August 2, 2018.
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Hon. Andrew Little . New Zealand Parliament , June 18, 2018, accessed August 2, 2018 .
- ↑ a b c Our story . Department of Corrections , accessed August 2, 2018 .
- ↑ a b About us . Department of Corrections , accessed August 2, 2018 .
- ^ Peter Clayworth : Prisons - Early prisons, 1840–1879 . In: Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , June 20, 2012, accessed July 1, 2018 .
- ^ Peter Clayworth : Prisons - Developing a national prison system, 1880-1949 . In: Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , June 20, 2012, accessed July 1, 2018 .
- ^ Peter Clayworth : Prisons - Prisons in a changing society, 1949–1990 . In: Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , June 20, 2012, accessed July 1, 2018 .
- ↑ Our locations . Department of Corrections , accessed August 2, 2018 .