Opening a new prison is always an occasion of mixed feelings, and the opening of Spring Hill Corrections Facility in the Waikato on September 25 was no exception. The hard work of all those involved in the design and construction of the facility is to be applauded, and with prisoner numbers well over 8,000, the additional 650 beds are an absolute necessity. However, it is saddening that our society must lock away so many of its citizens. At least I am confident that the new prison staff will offer offenders every opportunity to turn their lives around by encouraging them to take advantage of the rehabilitation, training and employment opportunities available.
I was gratified to discover how well embedded the new facilty seems to be in the local community. At the opening ceremony I met many representatives of local iwi and the community, including local Police, Ministry of Social Development staff, Ombudsmen and major private sector companies. Around a third of the $380 million construction costs went to the local economy, and I know Corrections intends to be a good neighbour in the area in the future as well.
Since 2004 we’ve added an additional 773 beds to our exisiting prisons. As the Prison Service has grown and changed over the years, it became necessary to review its structure, a process that has taken much research and staff consultation.
The Prison Service review is now complete and we annouced the new structure for the Service on October 19. The key changes are; a shift from five to three regions; more managers to support front-line staff; centralised services for health, crime prevention and quality assurance; and an emphasis on a more responsive head office. The new strucure will also be a better fit with our new head office structure.
You may have seen that our new annual report for 2006/07 is now available. I encourage you to visit our website to download it, or to request a hard copy (see the ‘News briefs’ for more information on how to get a copy). It contains all the recent facts and fi gures about Corrections, including how rates of drug users in prison are falling, and prisoner employment is rising.
The new community-based sentences that are part of the Government’s Effective Interventions package are now up and running and judges have started making use of them already. Our Community Probation staff have been tremendously busy with the training required to administer the new sentences properly, and our IT staff have also been working apace to upgrade our systems. I acknowledge their work and thank them for it. It has been a huge undertaking, and the work will continue, at least for probation officers, as the sentences are used more and more.
Barry Matthews
Chief Executive
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ISSN 1178-8453