File image Photo: Unsplash / Matthew Ansley
The head of Corrections has admitted it needs to do better following the release of a damning report by the chief Ombudsman on the management of the country's 18 prisons.
The report said there was need for an urgent fix to serious culture and leadership issues in the department.
Corrections leadership were making recommended changes at a "glacial" pace, chief ombudsman Peter Boshier said, and needed closer tracking of their progress.
"I would never have embarked on this project if I wasn't utterly frustrated at the lack of traction, and it's equally frustrating when I'm told publicly and otherwise that what I'm saying is being attended to when it's plainly not," Boshier told RNZ.
Department of Corrections chief executive Jeremy Lightfoot said he acknowledged the significance of the investigation. It gave the department "real pause for thought" and set out some significant issues that needed to be addressed over a long-term period.
"I do want to suggest that we have made some significant progress," Lightfoot told Morning Report.
"The investigation has been underway for two years and I've obviously had the opportunity to reflect on some of the things that are being highlighted."
Jeremy Lightfoot Photo: RNZ / Diego Opatowski
The investigation was prompted by the 2020-2021 riots at Waikeria Prison.
Boshier's concerns about unreasonable lock-up hours, decrepit facilities, cultural competency, and disregard for basic rights including access to food, medication, and whānau were nothing new.
But his latest report Kia Whaitake / Making a difference painted a picture of a department in denial and that was unwilling, or unable to, make lasting change.
"The Ombudsman systemic investigation provides a blueprint for the areas for us to focus on in future" - Department of Corrections chief executive Jeremy Lightfoot
Lightfoot agreed that maintaining a fair and safe environment for prisoners where they received humane treatment was critical.
"I think we do that every day to the best of our abilities."
It was not fair that prisoners faced further hardships - but he did not believe that was what his organisation did.
"We must balance the immediate safety issues in a very challenging work environment.
"Prisons are highly volatile places, some people, despite our best efforts, do go to extreme lengths to harm others and safely managing that has to be an absolute priority for us."
Lightfoot said some issues raised in the report were because staff numbers were not what they should be. There was still a way to go for Corrections to get back to full staffing levels, but progress had been made, he said.
"Seventeen of our 18 prisons are now returned to face-to-face visits, rehabilitation and treatment levels are starting to recover, so there is a sort of recovering story but what I want to communicate today is we know we need to do better.
"The ombudsman systemic investigation provides a blueprint for the areas for us to focus on in future."