Imprisonment of offenders is the most serious sentence or order available to the courts.
Corrections manages seventeen male prisons and three female prisons.
Offenders may be imprisoned as remand or sentenced prisoners:
Public safety is Corrections’ priority when managing prison-based sentences and orders. Corrections is required to provide a secure and humane environment for prisoners and prison conditions are tightly regulated by law and international convention.
However, Corrections also works to reduce re-offending by putting prisoners – most of whom must eventually be released – through rehabilitation programmes addressing the causes of their offending and reintegration initiatives to help them return to the community on release from prison.
These include:
Māori Focus Units and a range of Māori culture-based programmesReintegration initiatives aim to help prisoners prepare for their return to the community on release from prison. In addition to a range of programmes covering topics such as living, budgeting, and parenting skills, prisoners are also helped by:
Corrections does not decide when prisoners are released. That is determined by the sentencing laws, the sentencing judge, and the Parole Board.
The following table details when prisoners become eligible for release or parole.
| Sentence | Eligible for release |
| Less than two years | Automatically released on conditions after serving half of their sentence |
| More than two years | Eligible for parole after serving one-third of their sentence or at the end of any non-parole period imposed by the sentencing judge |
| Preventive detention | Eligible for parole at the end of the non-parole period imposed by the sentencing judge |