NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Corrections wants to track inmates' sweat for drugs and alcohol using electronic monitoring bracelets

RNZ
8 Feb, 2022 11:53 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Programme Director David Grigg says the new bracelets will not track wearers' sweat at this stage, but Corrections wants the option in future. Photo / 123RF

Programme Director David Grigg says the new bracelets will not track wearers' sweat at this stage, but Corrections wants the option in future. Photo / 123RF

By Soumya Bhamidipati of RNZ

Corrections wants the ability to monitor offenders' sweat for drugs and alcohol through its electronic monitoring bracelets.

The department will switch to new equipment next month, after signing a $180 million contract with a UK company, Buddi.

When seeking bids for the contract, it requested technology that could continuously monitor a wearer's perspiration.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Programme Director David Grigg said the new bracelets would not track wearers' sweat at this stage, but Corrections wanted the option in future.

"Being able to detect alcohol and drugs allows Corrections to enforce the integrity of a sentence, order or electronically monitored bail conditions, but also helps identify increases in risk and provides the necessary support for people with substance abuse issues," Grigg said.

"The Buddi Smart Tag does not monitor the wearer's sweat levels or take bodily measurements other than a wearer's location. Again there is the opportunity to enable us to leverage off future technology enhancements within this agreement but as we transition to a new provider and new equipment we are not introducing this at this stage."

Corrections piloted sweat monitoring in Auckland and Northland between 2017 and 2019.

The trial found offenders whose sweat was monitored were sober and drug-free over 90 per cent of the time, and that those people were more likely to get treated.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

However, Victoria University of Wellington criminologist Liam Martin said monitoring sweat was too invasive.

It was likely the technology would enforce bias against those who were already disadvantaged by the criminal justice system, Martin said.

"The idea of people walking around with bracelets monitoring their sweat, you know, how far does this go? We know who it's going to target.

"It's a definite area to watch because it's an area of expansion in criminal justice right now."

Canterbury Howard League for penal reform president Cosmo Jeffery was on electronic monitoring in the early 2000s.

The technology would only help to reduce drug and alcohol use if the wearer was willing, he said.

"My feeling is you can only support someone if they give their consent to it. You can't force someone to go, for example, to Alcoholic's Anonymous."

Jeffery said he would want to see more data before any such monitoring was undertaken, including how many people on electronic monitoring use these substances and break their sentence, bail or parole conditions.

Human rights lawyer Douglas Ewen said the move aligned with a 2015 law change allowing monitoring of drug and alcohol use for some offenders.

The technology could legally only be used on those who had had relevant conditions imposed, he said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

However, Ewen said he could foresee a situation where Corrections collected the information automatically, which would be a breach of privacy.

"Corrections ought to be really quite careful in when this kind of operational facility is used, unless they've got specific authorisation in terms of a court order or a parole board term.

"Even if they have the capacity to collect it, they really shouldn't."

On the other hand, people subject to the testing may find the technology less intrusive than current monitoring methods, as it was done remotely, Ewen said.

He questioned whether the funds would be better spent on drug and alcohol treatment.

"Slapping someone with a don't consume alcohol condition, if they have got an alcohol problem is trying to achieve by way of court order something that requires varying degrees of intensive therapy and treatment.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It is optimistic to say the least, if not actually naive."

Deputy Privacy Commissioner Liz MacPherson said Corrections would need to assess whether sweat monitoring was a proportionate response in light of the identified privacy impacts.

If it decided to go ahead, Corrections would need to do what it could to mitigate the privacy concerns, she said.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

live
New Zealand

Fibre outage top of South Island, Tasman residents evacuating, Auck Harbour Bridge hit by high winds

02 Jul 08:07 PM
Herald NOW

Sean 'Diddy' Combs acquitted of sex trafficking, convicted on lesser charge

Herald NOW

Local Government nominations open on Friday

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Fibre outage top of South Island, Tasman residents evacuating, Auck Harbour Bridge hit by high winds
live

Fibre outage top of South Island, Tasman residents evacuating, Auck Harbour Bridge hit by high winds

02 Jul 08:07 PM

Rain started falling at the top of the country before dawn.

Sean 'Diddy' Combs acquitted of sex trafficking, convicted on lesser charge

Sean 'Diddy' Combs acquitted of sex trafficking, convicted on lesser charge

Local Government nominations open on Friday

Local Government nominations open on Friday

No 10 insisting UK PM didn't make Chancellor cry

No 10 insisting UK PM didn't make Chancellor cry

From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP