19 November 2021
C142075
Ti Lamusse
[FYI request #16958 email] Tēnā koe Ti
Thank you for your email of 30 September 2021, requesting various information
about Corrections’ response to COVID-19. Your request has been considered under
the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA).
Corrections’ top priorities are safety and wellbeing – of the public, our staff, visitors to
our sites and the people we are managing in prisons and the community. Since
March 2020 we have put in place extensive plans to manage any risk to our staff or
the people we manage, and we have continued to refine these plans to do
everything we can to keep our staff and the people we manage safe from COVID-19.
All prisons are currently operating with controls to minimise risks relating to the
transmission of COVID-19. As we have seen in prisons internationally, the impact
can be devastating. We have a duty of care to the people we manage in prisons, and
to our staff, and everything we have put in place to manage the threat of COVID-19
has been based on prioritising their safety and wellbeing.
You requested:
1) How does release from prison differ at different COVID alert levels? Does
the Department have different protocols for releasing people in its custody
at alert level 4 compared to alert level 1? If so, please provide me with
regulations, manuals or policy documents outlining these protocols.
Corrections doesn’t decide who is released from prison or when they are released.
An individual may be released on bail, parole, on release conditions or at their
statutory release date, and this is determined either by the Courts or the New
Zealand Parole Board (NZPB). Individuals continue to be released from prison
during all COVID-19 Alert Levels in accordance with Court and NZPB decisions.
Corrections will work with an individual to ensure they are aware of any conditions
they may have upon release from prison, including an approved address they are
required to reside at. As noted, these conditions are set by the Courts or the NZPB.
The Government recently introduced rules on how people in Auckland-based prisons
are released into other parts of the country at current Alert Level settings. People
being released or bailed from Auckland Prison, Mt Eden Corrections Facility,
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Auckland South Corrections Facility and Auckland Region Women’s Corrections
Facility, to an address outside of Auckland need to comply with the requirements of
the Alert Levels Requirements Order, including providing evidence of a negative
COVID-19 test within 72 hours of crossing this boundary.
Corrections will proactively identify who will require a COVID-19 test before their
release. Custodial staff, Case Managers and health teams then work together to
arrange COVID-19 testing 72 hours prior to the person’s scheduled release and
boundary crossing. Corrections makes sure that affected people have all the right
documentation they will need to successfully cross the Alert Level boundary.
Corrections also works with the person’s lawyer and the courts and helps arrange
transportation via First Security for the released person across the boundary to their
family or release address.
If the person’s test results are not received prior to their release, they will be
supported to remain in Auckland until they can cross the border. If they refuse the
test, they will not be able to leave Auckland, but will continue to be supported in the
community in Auckland. Wherever possible people are being identified and
transferred to a prison in the area they are being released to prior to their release.
This requirement to produce evidence of a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours
of crossing a boundary does not apply to people crossing boundaries outside of
Auckland, and therefore does not affect people being released from prisons outside
of Auckland, including Spring Hill Corrections Facility. While people in prison are
offered a COVID-19 test prior to release, there is no obligation on the person to take
one as there is no applicable Health Order in place.
2) How does the Department prepare prisoners for release during lockdowns
(levels 3 and 4)?
As noted, Corrections will work with an individual to ensure they are aware of any
conditions they may have upon release from prison, including an approved address
they are required to reside at. As noted, these conditions are set by the Courts or the
NZPB.
3) Does the Department provide prisoners with information about alert level
rules before they are released? If so, please provide me with the
information given to prisoners in this situation.
People in an Auckland who are being released are provided with an information
sheet, which includes details about what takes place if the individual is being
released to an address outside of Auckland. Please find this information sheet
attached as Appendix One.
People in prison have access to T.V. and radio for information about Alert Level
restrictions. Staff will also assist individuals if they have any questions.
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4) Does the Department ensure that prisoners have a place to stay if they are
released during lockdown? If so, please explain how the Department
ensures this.
Not all individuals released from prison are required to have an address to reside at
upon their release, and this has not changed with the COVID-19 pandemic. Many
individuals released from prison, such as those being released on their statutory
release date, will be released irrespective of whether they have an address to reside
at. Often these individuals will make their own arrangements about where to live,
such as returning to a family home. Others may require assistance with finding a
place to live. Corrections contracts more than 1,000 supported and emergency
accommodation places each year for offenders, delivered by contracted providers
across New Zealand.
Other individuals are required to have an address to reside at prior to being
released. Again, this has not changed with the COVID-19 pandemic. If an individual
is to be released on parole, they are required to provide the New Zealand Parole
Board with a release plan (including a proposed address) for consideration, prior to
leaving prison. Other individuals, such as those who are subject to electronic
monitoring, must have their address approved by Community Corrections. In this
situation, the offender is tasked with providing an address, and Corrections will
check its suitability. Individuals being released on conditions will also frequently have
a condition to reside at a particular address.
5) Does the Department ensure all prisoners have a mode of transportation
to their place of accommodation on release from prison during lockdowns?
If so, please explain how the Department ensures this.
Corrections will work with an individual to ensure they are aware of any conditions
they may have upon release from prison, including an approved address they are
required to reside at. As noted, these conditions are set by the Courts or the NZPB.
As noted, if a person being released from prison is released from Auckland to
another part of the country, Corrections helps arrange transportation via First
Security for the released person across the boundary to their family or release
address.
6) How have lockdowns affected prisoners' access to a) counselling and other
therapy, b) rehabilitative programmes, c) case management, and d)
educational programs?
The protocols in place in prisons during different Alert Levels are designed to adhere
to the national guidelines and ensure the safety of both staff and people in prison.
During Alert Levels 3 and 4, prisons limit physical interaction between people. This
includes suspending guided and temporary release of prisoners (for example,
reintegration activities outside prison), temporary removal, release to work activities
and non-essential prison industries and face-to-face rehabilitation programmes and
case management.
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However, although face-to-face case management and rehabilitative activities are
not available during Alert Levels 3 and 4, custodial and case management teams
coordinate available resources to ensure that remote access for case management
activities, including parole interviews, and individual rehabilitation can occur.
7) Please provide me with the total number of people released from prison per
day, broken down by prison from July 1 2021, until Sept 31 2021. Please
break this down further by remand or sentenced status.
7) Please provide me with the total number of people entering prison per day,
broken down by prison from July 1 2021, until Sept 31 2021. Please break this
down further by remand or sentenced status.
The spreadsheet attached as Appendix Two provides both the number of individuals
released from prison, and the number of individuals entering prison, between 1 July
2021 and September 31 2021, broken down by day, prison and whether the
individual was sentenced or on remand.
Note that Corrections is not responsible for deciding whether someone is in prison or
in the community. This is the decision of the Courts or the NZPB.
8) Please provide me with the total number of prisoners and staff vaccinated
per day since the vaccination program began. If possible, please indicate the
cumulative total number of prisoners and staff vaccination, as a proportion of
the total prison population or workforce per day.
Please break this down by first and second doses.
Please break this down by prison and prisoners' remand or sentenced status.
I would like staff numbers broken down by prison (or other worksite) as well, if
possible, but I am happy with only prisoner numbers broken down by prison if
staff data is not collected in that manner.
Since the launch of our vaccination programme in May 2021, Corrections has taken
a proactive approach to strongly encourage everyone to be vaccinated against
COVID-19. We have a dedicated national team overseeing our vaccination
programme, and custodial and health COVID-19 vaccination leads at each prison.
Comprehensive communications have been enacted throughout, which includes but
is not limited to provision of information about vaccine safety and effectiveness via a
dedicated page on our internal website (for staff), information and engaging material
on prisoner kiosks, Prisoner TV, forums and conversations with health staff, posters,
pamphlets and other materials, including in a range of languages.
On 11 June 2021, Corrections was advised that a decision had been made by the
Ministry of Health to slow the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine to certain groups,
including people in prison. This decision was made in order to manage stocks of the
vaccine in the lead up to new vaccine deliveries. As a result, Corrections paused the
roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine to prisoners at all sites from Monday 14 June 2021.
Our prisoner vaccination programme resumed in late July 2021. Where people in
prisons have declined vaccinations previously, we continue to actively engage them
and provide further information and opportunities to be vaccinated as a priority. All
prison sites are also offering the vaccine to all prisoners newly received into prison,
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and if they decline at that point, we continue to provide additional opportunities for
them to take up the opportunity to be vaccinated.
Records of vaccinations for Corrections staff and people in prison are not recorded
on a daily basis. Instead, Corrections’ COVID-19 vaccination data is captured
weekly. Accordingly, the information that you request does not currently exist in a
form that can be readily supplied to you and would instead require initiation of a
project to extract, analyse and present the data in the form requested.
Therefore, this your request for a daily breakdown of COVID-19 vaccinations for staff
and people in prison is declined under section 18(g) of the OIA, as the information
requested is not held by Corrections, and we have no grounds for believing that it is
held by another agency or more closely connected with the functions of another
agency.
However, the weekly vaccination data for prisoners and staff that Corrections has
collated from May 2021 onwards with the data broken down by prison and first and
second dose is attached as Appendix Three. Changes to the format of the tables
reflect adaptations to reporting methods throughout this period. Note that vaccine
figures for staff only include individuals who received their vaccination onsite at their
place of work. Some Corrections staff have received their vaccination offsite through
their District Health Board. The vaccination data was accurate and complete to the
best of Corrections’ knowledge at the time the data as extracted. However, the data
may be subject to change over time as more detailed information becomes available.
As you may be aware, up-to-date COVID-19 vaccination numbers for Corrections
staff and prisoners are also publicly available on Corrections’ website. This
information, broken down by prison and updated regularly, is available at the
following link:
https://www.corrections.govt.nz/news/2021/update_on_covid-
19_vaccination_programme.
Please note that this response may be published on Corrections’ website. Typically,
responses are published quarterly, or as otherwise determined. Your personal
information including name and contact details will be removed for publication.
I trust the information provided is of assistance. Should you have any concerns with
this response, I would encourage you to raise them with Corrections. Alternatively,
you are advised of your right to also raise any concerns with the Office of the
Ombudsman. Contact details are: Office of the Ombudsman, PO Box 10152,
Wellington 6143.
Ngā mihi
Rachel Leota
National Commissioner
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Document Outline
