20 March 2007
Invercargill Prison’s $11 million dollar upgrade officially draws to a close on Wednesday with Corrections staff, contractors, the Murihiku Advisory Komiti and invited guests gathering to celebrate the opening of the prison’s new Visitor Centre.
Launched in mid-2004, the three-year development project has seen the prison transformed from its 1910 origins into a modern, secure and humane 21st century facility.
Importantly the building programme has also enabled Invercargill Prison to comply with the Corrections Act 2004 which stipulates the need for remand prisoners to be separated according to their security classification. This would not have been possible in the original prison.
Prison Manager Stu Davie is delighted with the new facilities and particularly the new Visitor Centre which he says provides prisoners and visitors with a clean, pleasant and humane environment to meet and talk in.
Fixed tables and chairs have been spaced to create a sense of privacy - something Mr Davie considers equally important for family and non-family members visiting prisoners.
The wider building programme has seen the prison gain covered walkways between cell blocks, a new control room, new administration block, new fences and gates and a new reception area for prisoners as well as the new Visitor Centre.
Cause for further celebration are the new security features installed to help the prison detect and prevent contraband entering the prisoner reception area and Visitor Centre.
Like all prisons around the country, Invercargill Prison is seizing more contraband - double the number of items since 2003. In 2003, 36 items were confiscated from prisoners and their visitors. In 2007, that figure rose to 77 items - drugs and drug-related paraphernalia accounting for almost half of all seizures.
Southern Region Manager Paul Monk says while no prison in the world is completely free of drugs and contraband, increased checkpoint surveillance, more drug dogs, a more secure visitors’ area and the continued professionalism of staff has seen a significant rise in contraband seizures at Invercargill Prison.
The number of cellphones detected rose five-fold in 2006, with 25 cellphones, chargers or SIM cards confiscated from visitors or found on prison premises. Anyone entering Invercargill Prison today - be they staff, contractors, suppliers or the general public - risks being searched for contraband.
But while Invercargill Prison’s ongoing efforts to seize contraband will almost certainly be raised at Wednesday’s ceremony, principally it will be time for staff to reflect on and celebrate how much the prison has changed in recent years and what part they have played in that process.
ENDS
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