THE Regional Prison Development Project Team is on the home strait this month, as they count down the weeks to the opening of Spring Hill Corrections Facility near Huntly, North Waikato. The official opening of the site is planned for September and Spring Hill receives its first intake of prisoners in November.
Spring Hill is the last, and largest, of the four prisons built under the Regional Prisons Development Project. The prison will employ 341 staff and accommodate 650 male minimum to high-medium prisoners.
Recruitment and training is a key issue for the new facility, with several intakes of both new and experienced staff planned through until January 2008.
“Our recruiting has gone well to date, but we’re still looking for people wanting a new challenge to join us at Spring Hill”, says Prison Manager Noho Williams.
Noho says he’s looking forward to the shift from developing the prison to running it.
“This facility has been purpose-built to be a better environment for us to do our work of rehabilitating offenders. My staff and I are excited about creating a life-changing community at Spring Hill, where offenders will have every opportunity to rehabilitate themselves and move toward a crime-free lifestyle.”
Between now and November when the first prisoners arrive, the site operations will go through a rigorous testing and validation period to ensure they are robust and ready for prisoners.
And before the official opening of the prison in September, the community will get the chance to gain some insight into Corrections. An overnight stay is planned for residents who want the chance to experience life behind the wire.
Noho welcomes the opportunity to show the public first-hand how a prison operates.
“Corrections’ role is not well understood in the wider NZ community – events such as this help to increase public awareness and understanding of the work we do and the challenging environment in which we operate.”
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ISSN 1178-8453