Media Release: Preventing Suicides “not worth the benefits” says corrections

Media Release November 14 2012: Preventing suicides “not worth the benefits” says Corrections

The Howard League for Penal Reform says the Department of Corrections must improve its IT systems to prevent further suicides following a damning Coroner’s report.
The Coroner’s inquest into the suicide of Kerry Joll at Rimutaka Prison in May last year strongly [...]

Newsletter 58 – February 2010

Invisible Children

PILLARS has mounted a 3-year study into the effects of imprisonment on the children of prisoners. Last November it released the first year’s research report – Invisible Children. (Liz Gordon, Networkers; www.pillars.org.nz). The research premise is that the effects on children of the arrest and imprisonment [...]

Fact Sheet 58 – Women Prisoners and Parenting Issues

Women consistently make up a small percentage of the total prison population (6%) but in line with international trends, this population has been growing at a greater rate than for males. Since the 1980s, the number of women in prison has increased substantially: from approximately 110 in 1983 to 490 by January [...]

Fact Sheet 57 – Public Defence Service

Legal Aid is available to people who need, but cannot afford, legal representation. The pre-dominant model used in New Zealand is a contractual one. The client engages the services of a lawyer in private practice and the government, (sometimes expecting repayment from the client), pays the lawyer directly. The lawyer remains in [...]

Fact Sheet 55 – Three Strikes

The ACT party, as part of the National’s Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill, is hoping to implement a ‘three strikes and you’re out’ policy. Such a policy would see mandatory imprisonment of life with a minimum non-parole period of 25 years for anyone convicted for the third time of a serious violent or sexual offence. The Bill has passed its first reading in Parliament and is currently before the Law and Order Select Committee.