Increased double-bunking: 900 more prison beds

Swiftly rising prisoner numbers mean more prisoners are likely to have to share their cell with another prisoner – a practice known as double-bunking.

Mt Eden Prison Manager Neville Mark says double-bunking is not new, with 21 per cent of beds nationwide already in shared cells.

“We have double-bunked units at Mt Eden,” he says. “Staff to prisoner ratios are the same in double-bunked units as in single bunk units and the staff are professional and capable in responding to any situations.”

“Prisoners can, of course, request to be moved if there’s a problem with their cell-mate, and staff sometimes request that cell-mates be moved if they suspect standovers or bullying. But the opposite happens too. I’ve seen prisoners calming their cell-mates down, telling them to chill out,” says Neville.

Projections indicate our prisons will be completely full by February 2010. Corrections is developing options to increase prison capacity, but to meet the immediate and ongoing need, increased double-bunking is the only solution.

The increased double-bunking is planned for our four newest prisons – Otago Corrections Facility, Northland Region Corrections Facility, Spring Hill Corrections Facility and Auckland Region Women’s Corrections Facility.

These prisons are the best equipped for double-bunking because they have the necessary infrastructure for expansion, the best levels of security and technology, and are located in the areas of greatest demand.

Double-bunking at these four sites should give us around 900 more beds. We will also need to recruit more corrections officers so that staff to prisoner ratios stay the same in the double-bunked units.

Research shows double-bunking does not invariably lead to increased violence, although it can create tensions that need to be managed well. There are also examples of double-bunking working positively, with cell-mates supporting each other.

Corrections commissioned an independent review from New Zealand Health and Safety experts Impac to find out if increased double-bunking could affect staff safety. Their report concluded that:

“…double-bunking is operating successfully and safely in facilities which are older, more cramped and less well designed than those in the new prisons. Therefore there appears to be no inherent staff safety reason why the practice of double-bunking cannot be extended now and in the future.”

Currently, corrections officers use their own judgement, based on information from the electronic offender records system, and their experience, to decide who should share a cell. They consider factors such as the prisoners’ offences, physical size, gang affiliations and whether the prisoners are smokers or not.

In order to help corrections officers make these decisions, Corrections is developing a ‘shared cell risk assessment’ tool, which will pull all the relevant risk factors together into one place. The aim is to minimise risk to staff and prisoners by ensuring officers have all the information at their fingertips.