Creating lasting change

Our vision

Improving public safety by ensuring sentence compliance and reducing re-offending, through capable staff and effective partnerships.

Creating lasting change

Every day of the working week, more than 8000 people get up and come to work at the Department of Corrections with New Zealand’s most difficult and challenging citizens.

Corrections staff work in an environment of high risk and high reward. We feel the enormity of the responsibility we carry for playing our part in keeping New Zealand safe.

That is why we put such high priority on making sure we are always thinking about and responding to the risks we see in the offenders we manage.

To do our job well we must be disciplined in our planning, courageous in our decision making and passionate in our belief that we can change lives.

When the going gets tough we don’t give up, we create new solutions, always ensuring that offenders remain accountable for their actions and the safety of communities is put first.

Today the Department of Corrections is a well performing organisation, a position we have worked diligently to achieve.

This platform has allowed us to get clear about our future priorities and the expectations we must meet to be successful for all New Zealanders.

Creating Lasting Change brings our plans together in one place so that we can operate as One Team in everything that we do, placing offenders at the centre of our effort and victims at the centre of our concern.

In all that we do we will strive for excellence, be accountable for our actions and demonstrate professionalism in our endeavours.