Monitoring Entity Recommendations Themes

We work closely with monitoring entities to ensure we meet our stewardship obligations, our accountabilities to the people of Aotearoa New Zealand, and our obligations to people we manage. The entities’ work promotes a culture of continuous improvement and directly contributes to our initiatives and strategic goals.

The Office of the Inspectorate – Te Tari Tirohia provides independent assurance that people in the corrections system are treated in a fair, safe, secure, and humane way. Its functions include the investigation of complaints, prison inspections, thematic inspections, the investigation of all deaths in custody, special investigations and statutory reviews of Visitor Prohibition Orders and misconduct charges. While the Inspectorate is part of Corrections, it is independent from operational activities and management to ensure objectivity and integrity.

External monitoring entities can conduct similar inspections and investigations:

The Office of the Ombudsman is the National Preventative Mechanism responsible for monitoring Corrections facilities. The Ombudsman provides advice and guidance, undertakes investigations, and makes recommendations in accordance with several different pieces of legislation. The Ombudsman also manages complaints about government agency responses under the Official Information Act 1982.
Children’s Commission - Manaakitia ā Tātou Tamariki is the National Preventative Mechanism which undertakes inspections of Mothers with Babies units.
The Human Rights Commission – Te Kāhui Tika Tangata is the Central National Preventative Mechanism for Aotearoa New Zealand. It oversees Corrections’ treatment of people, and offers advocacy and mediation services to people in prison, in the community, and the general public.
The Privacy Commission – Te Mana Mātāpono Matapatu oversees privacy issues, which can inlcude investigations into an agency’s compliance with its privacy obligations. Its role is set out in the Privacy Act 2020.
The Health and Disability Commissioner – Te Toihau Hauora Hauātanga responds to complaints and provides advocacy services to people in prison. Its role is defined in the Health and Disability Commissioner Act 1994.
The Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission – Te Hiringa Mahara provides system-level oversight of mental health and wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand. Its role is set out in the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Act 2020

Investigation reports from the Office of the Inspectorate and the external monitoring entities can include recommendations for the Department of Corrections to improve its systems, policies, procedures or practices. The dashboard below outlines the major themes arising from these recommendations, and departmental progress to address them. It is important to note that many of the themes are systemic in nature and may require a long-term response.