Staffing woes letting jail inmates down — report
A new report into the Kohuora men’s prison in Wiri has found inmates are spending extended periods of time locked in their cells and their rehabilitation needs are not being met.
The Chief Ombudsman, Peter Boshier, yesterday released a report into the treatment and conditions of inmates at Auckland South Corrections Facility, also known as Kohuora.
This was Boshier’s first inspection of the Serco-run prison. It took place over nine days last August.
He was “most concerned by the prison’s practice of locking prisoners in their cells for extended amounts of time — across all parts of the prison — as a way of managing staff shortages or rostering issues”.
“My concern is that prisoners do not have sufficient time out of their cells to promote mental wellbeing,” he said.
While Boshier found the facility was well designed and maintained, operating on a Responsible Prisoner Model, he said it had been undermined by the staffing situation.
In the 12 months before the inspection, staff turnover was at 21 per cent.
He said staff shortages also affected the quality of case management, the professional relationships between prisoners and staff, and contributed
to problems with the prison’s complaints and misconduct systems.
He said the prison’s record keeping and paperwork relating to the use of force incidents was not satisfactory.
“I do acknowledge the good practices in place at the prison — the employment and horticulture workshops are impressive, the goodquality
food, and healthcare services that are provided,” he said.
“[But its] potential has yet to be fully realised due to a number of operational issues.”
Boshier suggested 36 changes and said the prison “accepted, or partially accepted, all but one”.
A Serco spokesperson said it welcomed the report. “It is pleasing the report noted a number of positive practices at Kohuora which continue.
“These included the introduction of telephones in cells, a first for New Zealand prisons; privacy screening to maintain the dignity of doublebunked prisoners; and employment and independent living initiatives for prisoners with disabilities.”
Correction Minister Kelvin Davis said: “It’s a good thing that the Chief Ombudsman has identified these issues, so Serco can be held to account for them and have an opportunity to remedy them.”
Davis said it was encouraging that the prison operator had accepted the recommendations made in the report.