Home Detention & Residential Restrictions - finding suitable housing

Home Detention (HD) and Residential Restrictions (RR) can help you maintain positive personal relationships with your family and friends. You may be able to keep a job or find a job to provide for yourself and your family.

You may be eligible to be considered for:

• HD as a sentencing option if you have been convicted of an offence and are to be sentenced, or
• RR as a special condition of release from prison on parole if you are currently serving a sentence of imprisonment of more than two years.

Completing a sentence of HD or parole with RR depends on many factors:

• Do you have support from others?
• Can you cope with restrictions on your movements and your behaviour?
• Can you resist the temptation to breach your HD or RR conditions?

Proposing a suitable address

If you are eligible to be considered for HD or RR you have to propose a stable address where you will stay on HD or RR. You will find information about practical factors to think about when choosing an address on this page.

Getting more help

If you want to talk more about whether your proposed address might be suitable talk to a probation officer, or your case officer or reintegration team if you are currently in prison.

Finding alternatives

Sometimes your old home won’t be suitable for HD or RR. There are agencies in the community that can help you find somewhere suitable to stay on HD or RR. Talk to a probation officer, or case officer if you are currently in prison, about how to contact or find out more about these agencies.

More information

You might also like to read these information sheets:

• Home Detention
• Parole with Residential Restrictions
• Home Detention and Residential Restrictions - Information for Families

If home detention or residential restrictions are being considered as options, you’ll need to think about these factors when choosing an address.

Monitoring

The address must be:

• in an area where the electronic monitoring equipment will work reliably
• away from power pylons, radio transmitters, or other structures that may interfere with the monitoring signal

Some parts of the country may be unsuitable for HD or RR because of limitations on electronic coverage and geographical factors. Case officers have a list of excluded areas and can contact a probation officer for more information if you have specific questions.

Access to the house

While on HD or RR, your address must be accessible to the monitoring company and your probation officer at all times; 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and in all weather. This means isolated properties, apartment buildings or gated communities may not be suitable.

Dogs on the property must be controlled for others’ safety.

The address must be within an hour’s drive of a CPPS service centre.

Unsuitable options

Unsuitable options may include:

• a sleep-out, garage, or caravan
• camping grounds and boarding houses
• bunking down on someone’s couch
• sharing with other people reporting to a probation officer
• addresses close to criminal associates or a gang property.

Fellow occupants

Who you share your address with while you are subject to electronic monitoring is important. Try to choose someone whom you know well, or have shared a home comfortably with before.

Remember - you will be relying on them for support throughout your HD or RR.

Are they willing to have you on HD or RR in the house?  Is there room for you at the address?

Electronic Monitoring will affect their privacy and yours. CPPS must:

• tell them about your offending
• check their criminal history and advise the court of any relevant convictions
• advise the police that you are being considered for HD or RR at that address
• If children live at or regularly visit the address CPPS will tell Child, Youth & Family that you are being considered for home detention or RR at that address.

If CYF and/or the police raise any concerns CPPS will pass these on to the court or the NZ Parole Board.