Looking towards the low-security accommodation from the Papamauri.
FOR most people, the word “prison” conjures images of razor wire, towering stone walls and steel bars. Some older prisons, such as Mt Eden, fit this image well, but our newer prisons, such as Auckland Region Women’s Corrections Facility, have been designed to entirely different specifications.
New Zealand’s new prisons are large, secure enclosures with a range of separate units and other buildings inside, and open space.
This design is deliberate, and it meets Corrections’ key goals of enhanced safety and security, and a better opportunity to reduce re-offending.
The new prisons boast robust security features. They are enclosed in high perimeter barriers, with a single gatehouse for entering or leaving the prison (older prisons often have several entrances). The perimeter “wall” actually consists of two walls or fences, with a “sterile” zone in between to stop people throwing contraband over into the prison. The electronic detection technology built into the walls means that in the event of any alarm or disturbance at the perimeter, staff can immediately identify the location and track down the cause.
Auckland Region Women’s Corrections Facility (ARWCF) has been operational for a year, and Prison Manager Jeanette Burns says the single point of entry and other security features have helped to reduce the number of prisoners testing positive in random drug tests to an impressively low one percent (compared to the national target of 16 percent).
“Of course, this is also due to our staff who are very skilled at searching and to good intelligence from our very active Crime Prevention Team,” Jeanette says.
Within the walls and other internal security fencing, the environment is designed to allow prisoners to take some responsibility for their lives. This includes encouraging them to create a normal routine of a structured day with a mix of work, education training, treatment and recreation. For example, prisoners may be responsible for getting themselves to work on time, attending treatment programmes, or going to the health facility.
“Highly structured regimes that take away all choice are not good for people when they return to the community, so it’s important that some responsibility lies with the prisoners, instead of staff making day-to-day living decisions for them,” says Jeanette.
The prison tries to model what happens in the community as much as possible.
“For example, if a woman turns up late for work, she’ll be asked why, and if she has a good reason we’ll explain she should have got word to the instructor. If she has no reason she’ll get a warning, then a more serious warning, and the third time she’ll get fired from that particular job.
“Also, staff would be talking to her about why she was late – maybe she just can’t stand peeling potatoes and would rather be out doing maintenance work. If that’s the case, staff will be advocating for her to get a job she’d be more suited to.
All prisoners are carefully assessed and their ability to move around is determined by their security classification and risk rating. Generally, for example, low security prisoners do not need internal escorts.
As prisoners progress in their sentences and if they behave well, they may be granted greater freedom of movement and personal responsibility. Prisoners nearing release may be able to live with others in self-care units, which resemble four-bedroom houses where prisoners live in flatting-type situations.
“Some of the younger ones really benefit from this. For example, they might have been living on the street, so haven’t learned how to budget, do the supermarket shopping and cook. The older ones are usually pretty skilled at this kind of thing and can help them,” says Jeanette.
The more open environment also reduces stress and prisoner management issues. There are purpose-built rooms for programmes and training, and spaces for recreation and hobbies that can double as programmerooms. Staff actively manage prisoners, interacting freely with them, behaving as role models, helping solve problems and encouraging prisoners to achieve the goals in their sentence plans.
The new prisons have been designed, built and organised to bring together the best of what Corrections has learnt about effective prison management here in New Zealand, and what we can take from overseas, especially from Australia and Canada.
An integral part of our knowledge about prison design in New Zealand has come from local Maori kaitiaki (guardians) of the prisons. The kaitiaki helped to design ARWCF to ensure the facility, especially the Papamauri (Maori cultural space), is culturally appropriate.
“The kaitiaki advised, for example, that running water is important to Maori for spiritual healing, so we have running water in our “safe spaces”. These spaces enable the women to get away from each other and calm down which can help to de-escalate potentially volatile situations,” Jeanette says.
“The new prison environment doesn’t just make a difference to the prisoners – my staff work here also and they have the right to a reasonable working environment,” she adds.
The effort, money and time invested in the design of ARWCF certainly seem to be paying off in terms of prisoner behaviour.
“The units are well looked-after, there’s hardly any graffiti, even from the young ones who usually tag everything in sight,” says Jeanette.
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