The proportion of offenders being charged with serious crimes has risen, meaning more people having to be remanded in custody and when convicted, more people being sent to prison.
Corrections has approved double bunking at a number of facilities to squeeze in more prisoners but the real cost will come with the construction of a 1500-bed accommodation block at Waikeria Prison in the Waikato in a public/private partnership.
The press release was depressing reading.
Of course we need to keep the public safe from dangerous offenders, but how many of our 9798 prison population really pose a risk to the community?
And how many are in prison because there is nowhere else for them to go? Prisons are for the bad, not the mad. And they also shouldn't be used as ad hoc detox centres.
If drug and alcohol addictions were treated as a health issue, not a criminal issue, surely the appalling rate of recidivism would reduce.
There was a glimmer of hope in the press release: there was talk of Corrections increasing rehabilitation, providing education and special training, and addressing violent and sexual offending through special treatment units.
But there were no specifics and no indication of how much money would go on these programmes. And there appears to be much merit in these initiatives.
In Northland, Ngawha prison won an Arts Access Award this year for providing theatre, music, creative writing, painting and carving courses and access to qualifications through NZQA.
Ngawha is staging an annual exhibition and last year $7000 was raised from the sale of the artworks and the money donated to Women's Refuge.
And in June of this year, a solo mum and her three kids took possession of a house built by prisoners at Ngawha. It was the third house to be built by the prisoners, working in a three-year partnership with Habitat for Humanity.
So not only do three families now have a home, but the prisoners who worked on the houses were well on their way towards their Level 3 Certificate in Building Construction.
Habitat for Humanity and Corrections are now working on further collaboration.
However, you can paint enough canvases to stuff the Louvre but ultimately, people need meaningful employment, a decent income and a belief that they can provide for their families before the crime rate comes down.
The Government got a bloody nose in the 2015 byelection, when Winston Peters cruised to victory on a wave of dissatisfaction from the Northland electorate over the way the region had been neglected.
This year, Minister for Everything Steven Joyce announced the Te Tai Tokerau Northland Economic Action Plan as part of the government's regional growth plan.
He announced 58 tangible action plans including improved digital coverage, a lift in the level of student qualifications, reducing unemployment especially among youth and Maori and an improved transport network.
Should the plan prove to be more than well-meaning ideas and lofty ambitions, these initiatives will do far more to reduce crime than the threat of being locked up and having the key thrown away.
Spending a billion dollars on prisons seems almost criminal.
• Kerre McIvor is on NewstalkZB weekdays, noon-4pm.
