Tongariro/Rangipo Prison is a low security prison and accommodates 601 male prisoners.
The prison started as a prison camp called Hautu in Turangi in 1922. The Tongariro/Rangipo Prison site was founded in 1926 and was situated on the Southern boundary of the Hautu site. It became a separate entity in 1977.
The prison is on a large site of 8481.6 hectares. Around 4200 hectares of this land is forested and 2400 hectares is farmed. The remaining 1840 hectares are roads, river reserves, wetlands and native forest.
Tongariro/Rangipo Prison employs 251 staff and is part of Prison Services' Central Region.
|
Contact details: Postal Address Physical address Useful links |
Further information
Security
Reducing re-offending
Motivational programmes
Cognitive-behavioural programmes
Specialist units
Prisoner employment
Education
Reintegration
Working with the community
Security
Protecting the public is the Department's highest priority, and this is accomplished through the secure incarceration of prisoners.
The level of physical security at each prison varies and is dependant on the type of prisoner accommodated.
Tongariro/Rangipo Prison is a low security prison and the level of physical security is lower than would be found at other prisons.
This is because the prisoners accommodated at the prison have been assessed as a minimal risk to the public and have proved they are trustworthy.
Given the extreme size of the Tongariro/Rangipo Prison site it is not possible to surround the prison with a single perimeter fence. Units within the prison grounds are appropriately fenced and secure.
The prison has a variety of security measures to prevent contraband entering the prison. These include electronic security devices and cameras, closed circuit TV, video motion detectors, microwave sensors, and electronic barrier arms.
Checkpoints are regularly established by a drug dog team to search visitor and staff cars. A drug dog team also regularly performs cell and vehicle searches throughout the prison.
Back to top^
Reducing re-offending
Reducing re-offending is critical if the Department is to meet its overriding objective of improving public safety.
Reducing re-offending means fewer offenders commit crime after completing their sentence – resulting in fewer victims, a reduction in the cost of crime and safer communities.
Tongariro/Rangipo Prison provides prisoners with a range of rehabilitation programmes and interventions that are designed to address the primary causes of their offending and prepare them for release.
The most intensive interventions are targeted at prisoners who are assessed as being a high-risk of re-offending, that have severe needs that caused their offending and are motivated to make positive changes in their lives.
Every prisoner entering Tongariro/Rangipo Prison receives a sentence plan which they are expected to comply with.
The focus of the sentence plan is on reducing re-offending on release and is developed following an assessment of a prisoner's risk, needs and motivation.
This ensures they are placed on the most appropriate and timely programmes and interventions to address the underlying causes of their offending.
Rehabilitation programmes and interventions provided at Tongariro/Rangipo Prison fall into four main categories: motivational; cognitive-behavioural, employment and education, and reintegrative.
Motivational programmes
Prisoners at Tongariro/Rangipo Prison are able to attend motivational programmes designed to increase motivation and to encourage and prepare prisoners to confront the causes of their offending.
There are two primary motivational programmes used at Tongariro/Rangipo Prison: the Tikanga Maori Programme and the Short Motivational Programme.
Tikanga Maori programmes use Maori philosophy, values, knowledge and practice to help prisoners increase their understanding of their Maori identity and their values, and improve their self-esteem to help them become motivated to address the causes of their offending.
Cognitive-behavioural programmes
Cognitive-behavioural programmes reduce re-offending by helping prisoners address the causes of their offending and teach them to identify, analyse and solve problems and make decisions to better their lives.
Prisoners also learn how to understand the consequences of their actions and gain control over their own behaviour.
Tongariro/Rangipo Prison runs a Maori Therapeutic Programme. The Māori Therapeutic Programmes has been developed as an alternative to the mainstream cognitive-behavioural programmes and is aimed at addressing the needs that directly contribute to offending, such as alcohol and substance abuse, or violence.
The programme is similar to other cognitive-behavioural programmes, but includes a specific Māori cultural perspective.
Specialist units
Tongariro/Rangipo Prison has one of New Zealand's five Maori Focus Units. The unit, Te Hikoinga, establishes a culturally appropriate environment in which prisoners can address issues relating to their offending.
The Maori Focus Unit is constituted on tikanga Maori principles and operates within a tikanga Maori environment.
Through the practice of Maori values and disciplines, and specialist Maori programmes, the unit aims to bring about positive changes in thinking and behaviour.
Prisoner employment
Prisoner employment, managed by Corrections Inmate Employment (CIE), plays an integral part in rehabilitation as it provides prisoners with essential work skills and habits which can assist them to find employment upon release.
The last prison census in 2003 found more than half of prisoners were not in paid employment prior to sentencing.
Prisoner employment increases the chance a prisoner will find sustainable work on release and research shows this will result in less prisoners being reconvicted.
Tongariro/Rangipo Prison offers three main types of employment:
• internal self-sufficiency activities such as food preparation and a laundry
• industries such as dry stock and sheep farming, forestry, timber processing and a vehicle repair workshop
• commercial work parties, primarily in the forestry and horticulture sectors
Prisoners are able to earn credits under the National Qualification Framework, allowing them to work towards qualifications whilst they are engaged in employment and training.
Minimum security prisoners who are nearing release may also be eligible to participate in Release to Work.
Release to Work is a form of temporary release that allows prisoners to be in paid work in the community during the day. It provides prisoners with a stable work record and the job is often carried on after a prisoner's release.
Education
There is a strong relationship between a lack of education and criminal behaviour. At the time of the last prison census in 2003, 51.7 per cent of prisoners had no formal qualifications.
Educational achievement and participation can equip prisoners for self-sufficiency and reduce the barriers to living an offence-free life.
A prisoner can enrol in any subject or education programme they consider themselves capable of achieving.
There are four main types of education offered to prisoners at Tongariro/Rangipo Prison:
- Foundation Skills allows prisoners to develop their reading, writing, speaking, listening, critical thinking, numeracy and problem solving skills
- National Certificate in Educational Achievement (NCEA) run in conjunction with the Correspondence School
- Trade and Technical National Certificates offered by Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics and delivered in prisons
- Self-Directed Tertiary Study distance learning initiated by prisoners and supported by the Department.
In addition, computer and hobby classes are also available.
Reintegration
Reintegration programmes address problems likely to increase a prisoners' risk of re-offending on release.
Being imprisoned can have significant social consequences for a prisoner.
They are likely to have lost their job and accommodation, they are unlikely to be able to support their families and their relationships can be adversely affected in other ways.
Combined, this can lead offenders into a cycle of institutionalisation.
Tongariro/Rangipo Prison provides two reintegrative programmes:
• Living Skills, which is a broad-based programme to give prisoners skills and knowledge on how to function effectively in society on their release
• Parenting Skillsl which is a group programme designed to teach parenting and relationship skills.
Reintegration Caseworkers also work with high-need prisoners at Tongariro/Rangipo Prison to address their specific reintegrative needs and help them prepare for release in the community.
The Ministry of Social Development have Work and Income work brokers and case managers permanently based at Tongariro/Rangipo Prison to help prisoners nearing release find suitable work before they are released.
Prisoners who find sustainable employment on release are less likely to re-offend.
Working with the community
The community has an important role to play in the rehabilitation and transition of prisoners back into the community by supporting and encouraging prisoners to live an offence free life.
Many sectors of the community are involved in rehabilitating offenders and helping them move back into the community.
Tongariro/Rangipo Prison has a very strong relationship with local iwi.
In 2005, the Minister of Corrections signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Tuwharetoa Maori Trust Board.
The chief of the tribe has a direct dialogue with the Minister in terms of prisons in the Tuwharetoa rohe (region).
Tongariro/Rangipo Prison also has a special relationship with the surrounding hapu, Ngati Turamakina, Ngati Turangi Tukua, Ngati Rongomai and Ngati Hine.
Representatives of the hapu meet bi-monthly with the Prison Manager.
Tongariro/Rangipo Prison also works with a number of support agencies, including New Zealand Prisoner's Aid and Rehabilitation Society (NZPARS), Prison Fellowship and the Salvation Army to support the successful reintegration of prisoners back into the community.
A large number of people also regularly donate their time, energy and expertise as volunteers with Tongariro/Rangipo Prison.
Volunteers provide invaluable support for prisoners and their families and give prisoners the opportunity to spend their free time constructively through music, art and sport.