Waikeria Prison is New Zealand's second largest prison, accommodating up to 1031 sentenced and remand prisoners with security classifications ranging from minimum to high-medium. The prison employs 480 staff.
Waikeria Prison opened in 1911 and New Zealand's first detention centre for youth was later established at the site in 1961. Following the abolition of borstal training in 1981, Waikeria became a youth institution. Waikeria Prison became a men's prison in 1985 following the enactment of the Penal Institutions Amendment Act 1985 and has grown and evolved since that time.
The Prison is set on a 1200 hectare site near Te Awamutu and is part of Prison Services' Central Region.
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Further information
Security
Reducing re-offending
Motivational programmes
Cognitive-behavioural programmes
Specialist units
Prisoner employment
Education
Reintegration
Working with the community
Security
Protecting the public is the Department's highest priority, and this is accomplished through the secure incarceration of prisoners.
The level of physical security at each prison varies and is dependant on the type of prisoner accommodated. Because Waikeria Prison is a large site, the level of physical security varies between different units.
The minimum security areas of the prison have fewer physical security features because minimum security prisoners have been assessed as a minimal risk to the public and staff and have proved they are trustworthy.
Higher security units are surrounded by a highly secure perimeter fence equipped with lighting, surveillance and detection equipment.
Anyone entering the prison, including staff, are subject to a search and their belongings may be searched and/or x-rayed.
This prevents contraband being smuggled into the prison.
Waikeria also employs a drug dog team, which is used to search staff and visitor cars, prison vehicles, cells and prison grounds to prevent drugs entering the prison.
Electronic security devices and cameras, closed circuit TV, video motion detectors and microwave sensors are used throughout the prison.
Reducing re-offending
Reducing re-offending is critical if the Department is to meet its overriding objective of improving public safety.
Reducing re-offending means fewer offenders commit crime after completing their sentence – resulting in fewer victims, a reduction in the cost of crime and safer communities.
Waikeria Prison provides prisoners with a range of rehabilitation programmes and interventions that are designed to address the primary causes of their offending and prepare them for release.
The most intense interventions are targeted at prisoners who are assessed as being a high risk of re-offending, that have severe needs that caused their offending and are motivated to make constructive changes to their lives.
Every prisoner entering Waikeria Prison receives a sentence plan which they are required to comply with.
The focus of the sentence plan is on reducing the risk of re-offending on release and is developed following an assessment of a prisoner's risk, needs and motivation.
This ensures they are placed on the most appropriate and timely programmes and interventions to address the underlying causes of their offending.
Rehabilitation programmes and interventions provided at Waikeria Prison fall into four main categories: motivational, cognitive-behavioural, employment and education, and reintegrative.
Motivational programmes
Motivational programmes are designed to increase motivation and to encourage and prepare prisoners to confront the causes of their offending.
There are two primary motivational programmes used at Waikeria Prison: the Tikanga Maori Programme and the Short Motivational Programme.
Tikanga Maori programmes use Maori philosophy, values, knowledge and practice to help prisoners increase their understanding of their Maori identity and their values, and improve their self-esteem to help them become motivated to address the causes of their offending.
The Short Motivational Programme aims to increase motivation by increasing a prisoner's problem awareness and recognition, reducing ambivalence, addressing cognitive distortions, and helping them consider options and formulate goals.
Cognitive-Behavioural Programmes
Cognitive-behavioural programmes aim to reduce re-offending by helping prisoners address the causes of their offending and teaching them to identify, analyse and solve problems and make decisions to better their lives.
Prisoners also learn how to understand the consequences of their actions and gain control over their own behaviour.
Waikeria Prison provides three general cognitive-behavioural programmes to prisoners.
The Medium Intensity Rehabilitation Programme is designed for prisoners in the middle risk range – those not considered high risk but still enough of a risk to warrant rehabilitation.
The programme increases problem awareness and recognition, reduces ambivalence, addresses cognitive distortions, and teaches prisoners to consider options and formulate goals.
The Medium Intensity Rehabilitation Programme targets a range of prisoners and is designed to cover the common elements of all offending.
The Focus Programme is provided to young male prisoners.
Focus provides a foundation for behavioural change and many of the concepts taught relate to situations youth prisoners are required to deal with on a recurring basis as part of their daily life.
Ongoing participation in the programme encourages prisoners to apply these concepts outside the classroom, over an extended period of time, to the point where the new behaviours become a habit.
The Maori Therapeutic Programme is used as an alternative to the mainstream cognitive-behavioural programmes and is aimed at addressing the needs that directly contribute to a prisoner's offending, such as alcohol and substance abuse or violence. These programmes are similar to other cognitive-behavioural programmes, but include a specific Maori cultural perspective.
Specialist units
Waikeria Prison also has a number of specialist units which provide long and intensive rehabilitation programmes aimed at specific causes of offending.
Waikeria Prison's Drug Treatment Unit provides a specialist 24-week residential drug and alcohol programme.
The programme includes one-to-one and group cognitive-behavioural therapy, education on addiction and change, along with education about building new skills – especially social skills.
Waikeria Prison has one of New Zealand's five Maori Focus Units. The Unit, called Te Ao Marama, establishes a culturally appropriate environment in which prisoners can address issues relating to their offending.
The unit is constituted on tikanga Maori principles and operates within a tikanga Maori environment. Through the practice of Maori values and disciplines, and specialist Maori programmes, the unit aims to bring about positive changes in thinking and behaviour.
Waikeria Prison's Youth Unit accommodates prisoners under the age of 18 and prisoners aged 18-19 who are deemed to be vulnerable in the mainstream prison environment.
Youth prisoners are offered a range of psychological, educational and vocational training in as normal environment as possible within a prison setting. The Focus programme is run in the unit.
Waikeria Prison also has a Special Treatment Unit for serious offenders with a high risk of re-offending. While the unit caters for a range of prisoners, all prisoners have been convicted of at least one violent offence.
The programme provided in the unit is the same as the Medium Intensity Rehabilitation Programme, but more time is taken to explain concepts and allow group members to participate and practice new skills.
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Prisoner employment
Prisoner employment, managed by Corrections Inmate Employment (CIE), plays an integral part in the rehabilitation of prisoners as it provides prisoners with essential work skills and habits.
The last prison census in 2003 found that over half of all prisoners were not in paid employment prior to sentencing.
Prisoner employment increases the chance a prisoner will find sustainable work on release, research shows this will result in less prisoners being reconvicted.
Waikeria Prison offers three main types of employment:
• internal self-sufficiency activities such as food preparation and laundry
• business-like industries including a dairy farm, furniture assembly, a vehicle repair workshop and a textile workshop.
• commercial work parties, primarily involved in painting and grounds maintenance.
Prisoners are able to earn credits under the National Qualification Framework, allowing them to work towards qualifications whilst they are engaged in employment and training.
Minimum security prisoners who are nearing release may also be eligible to participate in Release to Work.
Release to Work is a form of temporary release that allows prisoners to be in paid work in the community during the day.
It provides prisoners with a stable work record and the job is often carried on after a prisoner's release.
Education
There is a strong relationship between a lack of education and criminal behaviour.
At the time of the last prison census in 2003, 51.7 per cent of all prisoners had no formal qualifications.
Educational achievement and participation can equip prisoners for self-sufficiency and reduce the barriers to living an offence-free life.
A prisoner can enrol in any subject or education programme they consider themselves capable of achieving.
There are four types of education offered to prisoners at Waikeria Prison:
In addition, computer and hobby classes are also available.
Reintegration
Reintegration programmes address problems likely to increase a prisoners' risk of re-offending on release.
Being imprisoned can have significant social consequences for a prisoner.
They are likely to have lost their job and accommodation, they are unlikely to be able to support their families and their relationships can be adversely affected in other ways.
Combined, this can lead offenders into a cycle of institutionalisation.
Waikeria Prison provides two reintegrative programmes:
• Living Skills, which is a broad-based programme to give prisoners skills and knowledge on how to function effectively in society on their release
• Parenting Skills, which is a group programme designed to teach parenting and relationship skills.
Reintegration case-workers also work with high-need prisoners at Waikeria Prison to address their specific reintegrative needs and help them prepare for release in the community.
The Ministry of Social Development have Work and Income work brokers and case managers permanently based at Waikeria Prison to help prisoners nearing release to find suitable work before they are released.
Prisoners who find sustainable employment on release are less likely to re-offend.
Working with the community
The community has an important role to play in the rehabilitation and transition of prisoners back into the community by supporting and encouraging prisoners to live an offence free life.
Many sectors of the community are involved in rehabilitating offenders and helping them move back into the community.
Waikeria Prison has a strong relationship with local iwi. The prison has a Memorandum of Partnership with local iwi regarding wahi tapu (sacred sites) around the prison.
This Memorandum signifies the prison and iwi partnership in making sure these areas are respectfully looked after and managed.
The prison also has a kaumatua roopu, in which local kaumatua attend monthly meetings with prison staff to discuss Maori policy and Tikanga used by the Department.
Kaumatua also help the Maori Focus Unit with family days and kaumatua have one-on-one mentoring sessions with prisoners.
Waikeria Prison also works with a number of support agencies, including New Zealand Prisoner's Aid and Rehabilitation Society (NZPARS), Prison Fellowship and the Salvation Army to support the successful reintegration of prisoners back into the community.
A large number of people also regularly donate their time, energy and expertise as volunteers with Waikeria Prison.
Volunteers provide invaluable support for prisoners and their families and give prisoners the opportunity to spend their free time constructively through music, art or sport.