Prisons

A power outage which cut television and heating for some prisoners sparked a seven-hour protest and resulted in the Otago Corrections Facility being locked down on Saturday.

A man known as Houdini for his numerous disappearing acts, including a 2008 escape from Mt Eden Prison, has been recaptured after more than four months on the run.

Drugs are being shut out of the country's prisons, with prisoners recording fewer positive drug tests as the Department of Corrections clamps down on contraband.

It takes political courage to contradict the prevailing nostrums of the day, and National's deputy prime minister and Finance Minister, Bill English, is to be commended for doing just this.

Rather than putting her paws up, a former police breeding dog called Diamond is heading to Otago Corrections Facility to work as a drug dog.

Voluntary smokefree units at Otago Corrections Facility (OCF) and nicotine replacements are helping prisoners break the habit before a smokefree ban is introduced later this year.

Police have named the prisoner found dead at Waikeria Prison in Waikato and say ill health may have contributed to his death.

Some prisoners transferred from a prison damaged in the Canterbury earthquake on September 4 could be returned to the facility before Christmas.

Labour wants a parliamentary inquiry into repeat criminal offending, and what can be done to reduce it.