Corrections needs support from the courts if sex offenders are to be kept away from the public at the end of their prison sentence, the minister says.
Corrections Minister Judith Collins Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
The High Court declined to grant a public protection order for a sex offender who was subsequently released into Mangere.
Another offender was released into Maungaraki in Lower Hutt, but had to be relocated within the grounds of Christchurch Prison after public protests.
Corrections minister Judith Collins said she would like to have more serious offenders staying within prison grounds after their sentence was concluded, but it needed the support of the courts.
She told TVNZ's Q + A programme she could understand why residents were unhappy when sex offenders moved in.
"I'd be exactly the same as the people that we're talking to, because the fact is nobody is putting their hand up saying please give me a child sex offender, living next door to me, nobody."