Background
- Holds up to 154 minimum, low-medium and high-medium security remand and sentenced prisoners.
- Part of the the Wellington Prison Region.
- Built in 1944 as a women's borstal. Became a youth prison in 1981and women's prison in 1987.
- Also housed 40 minimum-security male prisoners between April 1992 and May 1994.
- Arohata means "the bridge" in Maori reflecting the prison's wish to provide a bridge between past offending and a future in the community.
Employment
- Sentenced prisoners can participate in the prison's commercial sewing and laundry operations; help with cooking and gardening activities. Some prisoners are granted special permission to work in the community during the daytime.
Special Units
- Drug Treatment Unit - Arohata operates the Prison Services' national Drug Treatment Unit for women. Housed in the Te Araroa Wing, the 20-bed facility runs a programme in partnership with CARENZ. The six to nine-month fulltime programme enables participants to graduate through four phases designed to address alcohol and drug addictions, addictive behaviours and related offending patterns.
- Self Care Unit - four special housing units each accommodating up to four approved prisoners. These are designed to help prisoners adapt to community living prior to release. During the final months of their sentence, approved minimum-security prisoners live in flatting-style arrangements doing their own cooking, laundry and cleaning. Prisoners manage their grocery budget and attend a weekly trip to the supermarket, escorted by a Corrections Officer. Some prisoners with babies may be eligible to live in the Self Care Unit (see Mothers and Babies Options Fact Sheet).
Reintegration Initiatives
- Regional Reintegration Teams were established in 2006 to provide prisoners with specialist support to help prepare them for their release into the community. The teams, consisting of Reintegration Caseworkers, Social Workers and Whanau Liaison Workers, work collaboratively with Case Officers and other Corrections' staff to address prisoners' social, living, and reintegrative needs. Reintegration Teams are based in the five Prison Regions - South Island, Wellington, Midland, Waikato/ Central and Northern.
General Information
- Manager: Wayne Patterson
- Location: 1 Main Road, Tawa, 13kms north of central Wellington.
- For visiting times please call Arohata Women's Prison.
Arohata Women's Prison
Private Bag 51-901
Tawa
Telephone (04) 232 0810
Fax (04) 232 8669
