Annual Report 2014/15

Download the full 2014/15 Annual Report PDF, 3.2 MB

Chief Executive's overview

When the Department of Corrections was created in 1995 Corrections employed 3,500 staff. Twenty-three thousand sentences were being served in the community and we had 4,235 prisoners in 16 prisons. This year, as we mark our twentieth anniversary, we have nearly 8,000 staff managing over 35,000 sentences and orders in the community, and over 9,000 people in prison. This is the largest prison muster New Zealand has ever had.

To the credit of our people, we managed a prison population that has grown in excess of all forecasts. We have maintained the security and integrity of the corrections system, and have made progress on an ambitious goal of reducing re-offending.

The opening of Auckland South Corrections Facility in May 2015 has eased pressure on the capacity of the prison network. The prison is New Zealand’s first full services Public Private Partnership (PPP) and at the time was New Zealand’s largest construction project, with 1.4 million hours worked, equating to one person working for 800 years.

The new facility is state of the art and designed with rehabilitation and reintegration at the front and centre. The site is located in South Auckland, which means that more prisoners will have the opportunity to be located closer to their families, as well as to support networks, community groups, and potential employers. Any programmes or initiatives showing good results can be used across the other prisons, enhancing our efforts to reduce re-offending.

For a while now, we have been planning to close some of our older units that are no longer fit for purpose. Auckland South Corrections Facility’s opening has meant we can begin to close older units at Waikeria, Tongariro/Rangipo and Rimutaka Prisons. I am pleased at how well this process has gone, especially at the way we have managed the transition for affected staff. A number of staff took up our enhanced early retirement and relocation options, which meant fewer staff were impacted than initially expected.

Over the last three years, we have shown that it is possible to reduce re-offending; but we still have a lot of work to do to achieve our Better Public Services target of a 25% reduction in re-offending by 2017. This year we kicked off a major programme of work designed to intensify our efforts – RR25% Boost. RR25% Boost is about giving more offenders access to the programmes and interventions we know work, such as alcohol and other drug treatment, road safety courses, and work and living skills. We are particularly focusing on short-serving prisoners and community offenders, who in the past have not had access to as wide a range of services as other offenders.

Public safety is our bottom line and this year we standardised our electronic monitoring of offenders, bringing all offenders who require monitoring under one provider – 3M.

Allegations involving the management of Mount Eden Corrections Facility meant that in the interest of prisoner and staff safety Corrections invoked a ‘Step-in’ clause in the contract we have with Serco. The chief inspector of Corrections is undertaking an investigation which is due to be completed on 30 October 2015.

On 1 October 2015 we mark 20 years since the formation of the Department of Corrections. This milestone is a chance to reflect on how far we have come as an organisation, and to acknowledge the part our people have played in forging the organisation we have today. We have over 800 staff who were here when the Department of Corrections separated from the Department of Justice. I’d like to recognise these long-serving staff and their enormous contribution.

Our people are the backbone of the organisation. Without the staff working at sites across the country we couldn’t do what we do. All the technology, facilities and opportunities in the world wouldn’t mean a thing without the people who work every day to help make New Zealand a safer place.

Ray Smith
Chief Executive