Ray Smith is the Department's Chief Executive and has the legal custody of offenders under the control of Corrections staff.
The Chief Executive is responsible for ensuring Corrections operates in accordance with the purposes and the principles set out in the Corrections Act 2004. Under the Act, the Department must:
- make public safety paramount when managing offenders
- administer all sentences in a safe, secure, humane and effective manner
- operate facilities in accordance with New Zealand legislation and based on other agreements (such as the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners)
- ensure that offenders are treated fairly by providing them with information about the rules, obligations, and entitlements that affect them, and ensuring that decisions made about them are fair and reasonable and that they have access to an effective complaints procedure.
More detailed information on the legislation and international requirements Corrections operates under can be found here.
The Chief Executive has powers relating to the temporary release or removal of prisoners. They can exercise the powers of a prison manager and can:
- visit and inspect any prison, community work centre, or probation office and interview any offender
- inquire into the treatment and conduct of offenders and investigate abuses or alleged abuses
- issue instructions or guidelines
- provide opportunities for communities to give their views on policies and practices and take those views into account.
