Prisoners at the Otago Corrections Facility (OCF) may be among those nationwide to be housed in shipping containers but extra capacity there for now will be in the form of double bunking.
The Department of Corrections plans to introduce double bunking - the practice of two prisoners sharing one cell - at the Milburn prison by February next year.
Capacity will rise from the present level of 335 to 485.
While this will mean extra beds built into existing cells at OCF, management stopped short yesterday of ruling out the introduction of shipping containers as a way to combat rising prisoner population forecasts.
The idea of housing prisoners in shipping containers is gaining momentum.
Corrections Minister Judith Collins this week asked the department to speed up the process of adding container-style accommodation to prisons.
All OCF manager Jack Harrison would say is that no decisions have been made on where the proposed container cells might be used and repeated his earlier comments that OCF's capacity would increase by 150 when double bunking is introduced there early next year.
Double bunking was not a new initiative, with 21% of New Zealand's prison beds in shared cells.
Double bunking was commonly used in Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, he said.
In a statement, Ms Collins said the introduction of prefabricated container cells would not alleviate the need to double-bunk prisoners as the country's prisons approach a capacity crisis.
"We simply cannot have the situations where prisoners are kept in prison vans or police cells.
To ensure the safety of the public, we must have enough prison beds to cope with the demand."
In the short-term, Ms Collins said double-bunking and container cells would be introduced while extending existing prisons will be looked at as a medium-term solution.
Towards the long-term, a new prison, likely to be in south Auckland, would be needed, she said.
Ms Collins yesterday announced prison guards would get body armour, batons, pepper spray and communication classes to help them with the most difficult and dangerous prisoners locked up around the country.
The new equipment was introduced after careful consideration and staff would not carry them at all times.
Tasers were considered but not recommended for now.
