Quick-smart boost to prison beds: Double bunking

In just over a year Corrections has added the equivalent capacity of three of its newest prisons thanks to the highly successful Double Bunking Project.
 
By double bunking selected cells, recruiting over 380 staff, and constructing or upgrading staff and prisoner facilities with minimal disruption, the project has delivered about 880 extra beds on time and significantly under budget.
 
It puts Corrections in a good position to meet the rising demand for prisoner accommodation quickly and cost-effectively.

The four prisons that have received additional double bunking are: Spring Hill Corrections Facility, Otago Corrections Facility, Northland Region Corrections Facility and Auckland Region Women’s Corrections Facility.

They have the most modern security measures in place, have good infrastructure and are best able to handle increased prisoner numbers.

Custodial Systems Manager at Otago Corrections Facility, Colin Ropiha, says they have had double bunking for about eight months and that it is working well.

“Some prisoners requested they be doubled bunked with others they feel are role models to them or that they can get along well with. It has made some of them less aggressive and less contentious.

“A lot are quite happy as they have been able to share resources like a radio or TV,” he says.

Spring Hill Corrections Facility Manager, Gavin Dalziel, agrees that there can be advantages in having prisoners together.

“They can assist each other to cope with the fact that they are incarcerated. So if you have got someone who is prone to anxiety, you can have someone in there, a cellmate, who can keep an eye on them.”

All prisoners who are double bunked are carefully assessed before being put in with another prisoner. Corrections has developed a ‘shared cell risk assessment’ tool to help staff determine the suitability of prisoners for double bunking.

Staff to prisoner ratios have remained the same, so the project’s sizeable HR challenge was to recruit and train over 380 staff, including nearly 75 percent custodial staff, between July 2009 and September 2010.

Corrections’ Furniture, Fitting and Equipment Team has been responsible for fitting out over 1,300 ‘spaces’, from cells and toilets to kitchens, gatehouses and health units. The team also obtained a ‘truckload’ of quotes to ensure 5,700 items were delivered, ranging from search, medical and laundry equipment to cell furniture and consumables.

Double bunking facts

• 886 new beds
• 100,000 kg of steel in the new bunks
• 2,310m³ of concrete used for the bunks and additional infrastructure