Background
- Holds up to 138 sentenced and remand female prisoners of all ages and security classifications.
- Part of the South Island Prison Region.
- Opened in 1974 with prisoners and staff from Dunedin Prison and the Christchurch Prison (formerly Paparua) Women's Division transferred to the new facility.
Employment
- Prisoners are employed in the kitchen, garden and grounds, sewing room, cleaning and laundry plus appropriate community service projects.
Special Units
- Self Care Units - nine self-care units accommodate four prisoners in each. Approved minimum-security prisoners serving the final few months of their sentence live in a flatting-style arrangement. Prisoners do their own cooking, laundry and cleaning plus budgeting for, and buying their groceries, on a weekly supervised trip to the supermarket. Some prisoners with babies may be eligible to live in the Self Care Unit (see Mothers and Babies Options Fact Sheet). Mother and baby bonding facility opened in 2002 to allow babies less than six months old to bond with their prisoner mothers.
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
- Wayne McKnight
- Location: 20kms south of Christchurch in Newton's Road.
- For visiting times please call Christchurch Women's Prison.
Christchurch Women's Prison
Private Bag 4702
Christchurch
Telephone (03) 345 6400
Fax (03) 349 5727
