Prison is as far as the sentencing road goes for offenders in New Zealand, but it is not quite the end of the world. In the fourth and final part of a series profiling the different sentences handed down by the court system, Damian George takes a guided tour through the Otago Corrections Facility and gets an insight into life as a prisoner.
At first glance, the Otago Corrections Facility looks like a holiday camp.
Shortly after being guided through the receiving room during a tour of the prison this week, I was greeted by a wide, open space where inmates played a game of touch on a grass field, others walked around freely and staff and prisoners mingled like friends.
An asphalt basketball court was not in use, but some prisoners were doing chin-ups on exercise bars as they took a break from the match.
Elsewhere, a spiritual centre was hosting a tikanga programme for some inmates.
The centre is also used for church services and cultural programmes.
The dining room was far from the drab images of rows of tables, with a counter serving up slop and mash, as portrayed in prison TV shows such as Orange is the New Black.
Dining tables at OCF are spread out in a spacious setting, and there are table-tennis and pool tables nearby.
A gymnasium is available to prisoners once or twice a week, a library is stacked with books and board games and recreation time is referred to as ''morning'' and ''afternoon'', with no specified time limits.
A first-time visitor can struggle to make sense of this but the prison's assistant director of rehabilitation and employment, Gill Brown, offers the reality check.
''Prison itself isn't the punishment - the imprisonment is,'' she says.
The prison was built as a rehabilitation facility, Mrs Brown says, which explains the open, campus-style setting.
It was built on a former dairy farming site in Milburn in 2007, and houses up to 485 low to high-medium security male offenders.
Part of the dairy farm (140ha) has been retained and up to 370 cows are still milked there by some prisoners, possibly leading to a qualification in agriculture.
The opportunity is just one of a range of level 2 and 3 NZQA qualifications available, including carpentry, hospitality, cookery, engineering, laundry work and horticulture.
Prisoners can get the qualifications while working within the prison.
''We're looking to make them good neighbours [when they are released],'' Mrs Brown says.
''We want to give them a shot at being a good member of society - that's what we're here for.''
The opportunity was not lost on one prisoner, ''Bazza'', a former finance industry employee, who turned his four year prison sentence for fraud into a chance of a new beginning.
Bazza is one of the few prisoners allowed to work on the dairy farm, monitored by a staff member and a GPS tracker.
Knowing his days in the finance industry are over, which is ''probably a good thing anyway'', Bazza went down the outdoors path and now has a release job lined up for when he leaves prison.
''I wouldn't have had the confidence to do that if it wasn't for the experiences I've had in here,'' he says.
Going to prison is not ''the end of the world'', as some people may think, Bazza says.
Prisoners are treated like employees and, if you took away the bars, the facility could be a five-star hostel, he says.
''If you come here, you definitely stand a chance of going forward.''
However, the realities of being in prison are still very much apparent and there is no preparing for the unknown for first-time offenders, he says.
''For the first 14 days you're in here, you're on remand, which means you're with everybody, so that's daunting.
''And the fact you don't know what's going on [is daunting].''
Going to prison has destroyed much of his life.
''I lost my job, lost my home, lost my marriage, but I maintained a relationship with my children.''
Bazza has been in prison for nearly two years and has a parole board hearing scheduled, which he holds some hope for.
The prison's operational support and reception manager, Lyndal Miles, says officers at the facility are armed only with an alarm, radio and stab-proof vest, although pepper spray is available from a locked area.
''Your best protection is your communication,'' she says.
''If you can build that rapport and have that mutual respect with the guys in here, everyone's safer.''
Prison staff are based on the wings all day and cell checks are done at random, Mrs Miles says.
Prisoners are generally checked on when they are let in and out of their cells.
Cells include a bed, shelf, shower and toilet, desk and chair and small television set with basic channels.
Prisoners who are close to being released are prepared for reintegration by being moved to a four-bedroom, self-contained unit with cooking facilities.
In the meantime, prisoners are given four meals a day, including supper, and can spend up to $70 a week of their own money to buy items from an approved list.
The prison holds up to 485 prisoners - made up of 285 high security beds and 200 low medium to minimum security beds..
