Prison revamp in full swing

The redevelopment of Auckland Prison at Paremoremo is well under way with plans for it to be fully functional by mid-2018.

Auckland Prison is New Zealand’s only maximum security facility and is at capacity with 681 male prisoners.

The $300 million development maximum security unit is for 260 prisoners, and includes new service buildings, including a health centre, visiting room, training rooms, cultural centre and kitchen. It will replace the old cell blocks.

Northern regional commissioner Jeanette Burns says the new facilities will be a ‘‘significant improvement’’.

‘‘The existing prison was built in 1968, almost half-a-century ago, and the facility has become in dire need of an upgrade,’’ Burns says.

Work on the site began in mid-2014 and construction started a year later. It’s expected to be completed by the end of 2017 and fully functional six months later.

Burns says some of New Zealand’s most highrisk offenders are in Auckland Prison and many of them have high needs and challenging behaviour or mental health issues.

She says, in the new building, rehabilitation, training and education programmes will be run to ‘‘foster behavioural change and equip prisoners with relevant skills that will help them gain employment when they are released’’.

Prisoners are currently gaining work experience in a cafe which services staff and construction workers and, when the new central services building opens, prisoners will continue to work in the kitchen developing a work ethic for release.

Burns says the new facilities will make work easier and more efficient.

‘‘In the existing facility, services are often a long walk from the cells and prisoners need to be escorted to and from these.’’

She says the new units also separate the progression of prisoners within the system.

‘‘This project is about creating a safe place for our … staff to change lives.’’ she says.

The future of the old facilities is yet to be determined but resource consents allow a maximum of 681 prisoners on the site.

PHOTO: EMILY FORD/FAIRFAX NZ BNZ Browns Bay store manager Nicky Lukar, left, and customer service consultant Shaka Jamuna Ravishankar.

SUPPLIED An artist’s impression of the new facilities at Auckland Prison at Paremoremo. Inset: Construction.