True staffing situation leaked

Leaked figures show all New Zealand prisons are understaffed, and one has just two-thirds of the Corrections officers it needs to run properly.

The situation has left Corrections running prisons well short of capacity at a time the muster is rising, although the national commissioner believes the issue is set to be solved.

Figures provided to Stuff and confirmed by Corrections as true show a shortage of Corrections officers at all prisons as at the beginning of November.

The issue is not new – Stuff has regularly written about the shortage in 2022 – but the leaked figures provide significant detail and context.

Some prisons, such as Invercargill’s, are relatively well staffed.

But the situation is dire at Mt Eden Corrections Facility, which is 34% short of the 438 Corrections officers it needs to run.

Auckland Regional Women’s Corrections Facility is not much better, running 30% short of the 214 staff it needs.

Manawatū Prison, based near Linton Army Camp, is the thirdworst, running at 27% short.

The shortage has led to inmates being locked in their cells for up to 22 hours a day, rehabilitation programme access restricted and prisoners shuffled between prisons.

Corrections is also battling to keep staff, as recruitment fails to keep up with retention, and is likely to fall short of a projected need for 750 new staff in the next six months.

Corrections Association of New Zealand has pointed the finger at poor pay and conditions, extremely low unemployment and a net migration loss to the country.

All this comes as the prison population grows.

The muster was 7762 remand and sentenced prisoners as of August, but a table leaked to Stuff shows the population hit 8088 in late-October – an increase in contrast to a Ministry of Justice-predicted decrease.

Corrections national commissioner Leigh Marsh said a shadow cap – the number of inmates able to be placed in a prison – had been put in place to cope with the shortages.

The caps were lower than the capacity of prisons. Mt Eden, for example, has a shadow cap of 936 inmates but 1200 cells.

The population was also reduced at Manawatū Prison to adjust to staff shortages there, with inmates going to nearby Whanganui and Rimutaka prisons.

The situation could benefit some inmates, such as those with specific mental health issues who would be better served by Whanganui Prison’s more specialised facilities, Marsh said.

There were three variables to staffing: The muster, the amount of activity in prisons and staff availability.

If the muster grew and staffing was lower, the balance had to be struck by adjusting activity, he said.

Rehabilitation for some may take place, but programmes like release to work may not, depending on staffing.

Staff numbers were set to improve thanks to a recruitment drive – arguably the biggest Corrections has done in recent time and includes online and television video advertisements – but it would take five months to take people from recruitment to being on the tools.

Recruitment was difficult during the Covid-19 lockdowns, and the pandemic had been hard on staff, who often spent up to 12 hours in their usual gear plus protective equipment.

Assaults on staff did increase over that time – ‘‘it’s a reasonable assumption to say it’s linked to tensions around Covid-19’’ – but safety improvements had helped, Marsh said.

The shortage has led to inmates being locked in their cells for up to 22 hours a day.