Prison complaints statistics
Complaints about prisons can be made in confidence to unit staff or directly to prison management. Where possible, we try to resolve complaints at the lowest appropriate level. Generally, this means corrections officers are the first to receive a complaint and will attempt to resolve it informally.
If a resolution cannot be achieved at this level, a person in prison can submit a formal complaint through the PC.01 process. Find out more about the PC.01 process.
PC.01 Complaint statistics extracted from Corrections’ reporting system on 26 April 2022.
Number of complaints received and closed by financial year
Number of Complaints Received and Closed by Financial Year | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2021-2022 | 2020-2021 | 2019-2020 | 2018-2019 | 2017-2018 | |
PC.01 – Number of Complaints Received (1) | 9,108 | 13,289 | 12,567 | 11,480 | 10,754 |
% Closed on same day | 5.6% | 5.4% | 5.9% | 5.0% | 4.6% |
% Open for 1-7 Days | 51.8% | 50.1% | 47.9% | 45.5% | 46.3% |
% Open for 8-14 Days | 18.7% | 18.8% | 19.6% | 20.2% | 18.5% |
% Open for 15-21 Days | 8.8% | 9.3% | 9.3% | 10.0% | 9.9% |
% Open for more than 21 Days | 13.2% | 16.5% | 17.3% | 19.3% | 20.6% |
% Currently Open | 1.9% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
PC.01 – Number of Complaints Closed (2) | 9,313 | 13,348 | 12,611 | 11,608 | 10,801 |
Note (1) Financial Year based on complaint creation date (2) Financial Year based on complaint closed date. Complaints can cover multiple financial years (e.g., be received in one financial year but be closed in another). (3) 2021-2022 data up to 31 Mar 2022 | |||||
Number of complaints received by prison
Number of Complaints Received by Prison | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Prison Name | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | 2019/20 | 2018/19 | 2017/18 | Grand Total |
Arohata Prison | 447 | 506 | 474 | 163 | 266 | 1856 |
Auckland Region Women’s Corrections Facility | 474 | 1089 | 819 | 761 | 858 | 4001 |
Auckland South Corrections Facility | 972 | 2178 | 2227 | 1979 | 1696 | 9052 |
Auckland Prison | 1208 | 1763 | 1284 | 1349 | 1273 | 6877 |
Christchurch Men’s Prison | 913 | 1189 | 1224 | 1054 | 840 | 5220 |
Christchurch Women’s Prison | 410 | 440 | 505 | 409 | 391 | 2155 |
Hawke's Bay Regional Prison | 456 | 486 | 671 | 661 | 816 | 3090 |
Invercargill Prison | 88 | 121 | 96 | 157 | 116 | 578 |
Manawatu Prison | 108 | 180 | 161 | 170 | 292 | 911 |
Mt Eden Corrections Facility | 688 | 920 | 567 | 471 | 499 | 3145 |
Northland Region Corrections Facility | 453 | 274 | 308 | 649 | 451 | 2135 |
Otago Corrections Facility | 622 | 1124 | 775 | 581 | 565 | 3667 |
Rimutaka Prison | 414 | 606 | 1032 | 865 | 793 | 3710 |
Rolleston Prison | 219 | 177 | 100 | 55 | 55 | 606 |
Spring Hill Corrections Facility | 914 | 1269 | 1096 | 1094 | 878 | 5251 |
Tongariro Prison | 200 | 156 | 207 | 280 | 93 | 936 |
Unknown | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 14 |
Waikeria Prison | 301 | 472 | 727 | 515 | 577 | 2592 |
Whanganui Prison | 218 | 337 | 290 | 265 | 292 | 1402 |
Grand Total | 9108 | 13289 | 12567 | 11480 | 10754 | 57198 |
Number of complaints received by category
Number of Complaints Received by Category | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Category | 2021-2022 | 2020-2021 | 2019-2020 | 2018-2019 | 2017-2018 | Grand Total |
Communications | 675 | 1005 | 977 | 800 | 674 | 4131 |
Food Services | 409 | 451 | 430 | 373 | 332 | 1995 |
Health Services | 985 | 1516 | 1636 | 1357 | 1265 | 6759 |
Misconduct | 92 | 118 | 146 | 184 | 218 | 758 |
Other | 1172 | 1810 | 1682 | 1560 | 1565 | 7789 |
Personal And Official Visitors | 165 | 196 | 260 | 200 | 224 | 1045 |
Prison Conditions | 474 | 614 | 511 | 588 | 423 | 2610 |
Prison Work And Pay | 194 | 247 | 236 | 258 | 228 | 1163 |
Prisoner Management | 477 | 535 | 466 | 419 | 354 | 2251 |
Prisoner Property | 1530 | 2270 | 2351 | 2226 | 1950 | 10327 |
Prisoner Requests | 548 | 914 | 760 | 707 | 739 | 3668 |
Prisoner Welfare | 440 | 777 | 649 | 481 | 436 | 2783 |
Recreation, Exercise And Sport | 94 | 142 | 100 | 101 | 71 | 508 |
Security Classification | 302 | 495 | 410 | 462 | 488 | 2157 |
Sentence Management | 203 | 295 | 299 | 312 | 353 | 1462 |
Staff Conduct & Attitude | 990 | 1381 | 1248 | 968 | 952 | 5539 |
Temporary Release & Temporary Removal | 15 | 19 | 29 | 18 | 22 | 103 |
Transfers & Movements | 343 | 504 | 377 | 466 | 460 | 2150 |
Grand Total | 9108 | 13289 | 12567 | 11480 | 10754 | 57198 |