Even new jails won't keep Aucklanders at home

A mismatch of prisons to population means that at least 200 Auckland men may still be held outside the region even after two new jails are completed in the next two years.

Before a recent deal to press extra cells into service and double up prisoners in some cells, Auckland had only 21 per cent of the country's 7200 prison beds, despite having 32 per cent of the population.

This forced at least 800 Auckland prisoners out to jails in other regions, cutting many off from their families.

The deal struck with prison officer unions in January allowed the prisons to squeeze a further 290 prisoners into existing buildings nationally, on top of a building programme at existing sites which has increased capacity altogether by 493 beds.

Mt Eden Women's Prison, for example, has boosted its numbers from 54 to 96.

"Forty are men's beds which we have commandeered, otherwise the women would be accommodated in the police stations," says prison manager Jan Taepa.

Auckland Central Remand Prison, listed at a capacity of 381 on the Corrections Department website, had 388 prisoners last week and was negotiating with the unions to lift this to 415.

But the biggest boosts to the region's capacity will come in August, when a new 286-bed women's prison opens in Hautu Drive at Wiri, and in October next year, when a 650-bed men's prison will open near the Waikato River, 5km south of Meremere.

The women's prison will have just over half of all the women's beds in the country and should allow virtually all Auckland women to stay in the region, except when they attend some specialist programmes such as the intensive drug and alcohol course which will stay at Arohata in Wellington.

But the Meremere jail will still bring Auckland's share of the beds in men's prisons up to only about 25 per cent. Even with the current prison muster, that is about 200 short of the number of prisoners from Auckland. If the number of prisoners rises to the full level of new capacity, the region's shortfall will be be back to almost 600.

A 2004 Corrections Department report showed that Auckland's oldest jail, Mt Eden Men's Prison, is "substandard and unsafe" and needs a major refurbishment or closure.