Annual Report 2024/25
Introduction from our Chief Executive
With an increasing prison population, this past year has seen a continued focus on not only our recruitment, but on our infrastructure.
Our ongoing success in the recruitment space is delivering great results.
As at 30 June 2025, we have the highest number of corrections officers on the frontline [4,619], 890 more corrections officers since the prison population last peaked in March 2018.
What is even more promising is the turnover rate has continued to fall further to 8.3% – almost half of the 15.4% it was three years ago in 2022.
Notwithstanding our work in the recruitment space, we have a critical focus on increasing prison capacity to meet the projected prison population.
The Justice Sector Projections released in June 2025 are predicting a higher than previously forecasted prison population. Public safety has to be our top priority and we have been working to ensure we remain well-placed to accommodate any prisoner that the court has directed be held in Corrections custody.
Since November 2023, Corrections has reopened almost 2,000 beds across the network, which has resulted in approximately 11,600 beds being available across the network as at 30 June 2025.
We are also taking a longer-term view to our infrastructure needs. In October 2024, Cabinet endorsed our Long-Term Network Configuration Plan which sets out our expected key projects over the coming 20 years to ensure we have a fit-for-purpose prison network.
This plan includes the addition of the 500-beds coming online at Waikeria Prison in the second half of 2025, along with the 810-bed expansion at Waikeria Prison announced last year and the redevelopment of Christchurch Men’s Prison which will see an additional 240 high-security beds being delivered by 2029.
An increase in the prison population has seen an increase in the number of people on remand who are awaiting sentencing. This has been a key concern for Corrections, as until a person is found guilty – or admits their guilt – the available rehabilitation options are limited when it comes to addressing the underlying causes of their offending.
Over the last year, Corrections has been working to further increase access to rehabilitation for people on remand who have been found guilty (or admitted their guilt). This has included looking at what services we have available across the prison estate, and how these could be expanded or changed to meet the remand population.
From 1 July 2025, Corrections can draw down funding set aside in Budget 2024 for the wider delivery of rehabilitation for those on remand, with initial programmes being delivered in the second half of 2025. Finally, the last year has been significant in our Community Corrections space, with heightened awareness of the very real risk posed to our frontline probation and community work staff.
In April 2025, one of our probation officers was stabbed by an offender in the community during a report in at our Whanganui Community Corrections site. With great relief, the injuries our probation officer sustained were not life threatening, but the impact it has had is profound.
Each and every day – regardless of where you work or the role you hold – you should be able to go about your work without the fear of being seriously injured.
Corrections is, by its nature, a workplace where risk cannot be mitigated completely. But we do learn from incidents and are constantly working to make our workplaces safer for all our staff, no matter where they work.
To the 11,000 staff we have across New Zealand, working in all areas of our organisation, I thank you for the work you do each and every day. I thank you for leading from the front, for doing what’s right even when it’s difficult, and for keeping each other and our communities safe
Ngā mihi maioha
Jeremy Lightfoot
Secretary for Corrections and Chief Executive
Te Tumu Whakarae mō Ara Poutama Aotearoa