Prisoners have been subjected to degrading treatment, including being filmed while strip searched, bullied and victimised by other prisoners, and sleeping in "deplorable'' accommodation, a watchdog has found.
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.
We could end prison overcrowding inside 30 days if we overcame our humanist prejudices and applied some moral clarity. How so? Bring back the lash as an "offender's choice only"...
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.
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.
Some of the clinking cash in today's budget will go to clanking keys in prisons after $69.3 million over four years was locked off for prison beds.
Growth in prisoner numbers, combined with 1055 spaces being decomissioned, meant 2270 more prison beds were needed by 2019.
Funding would go to:
Organic gardening, constructing septic tanks, refurbishing photocopiers and printing business cards are just some of the business enterprises operated out of New Zealand prisons.