Police cells used to house overflow of inmates

Corrections will continue to use police cells to house overflow prisoners until at least September or October.

Corrections has a memorandum of understanding with police to use station cells to hold inmates who can not be housed at a local prison.

Public Prisons Service general manager Phil McCarthy said he understood the pressure it placed on frontline police, just as it did on Corrections officers.

"We expect the need to use police and court cells to reduce about September/October this year, as the number of prison beds aligns with the forecast inmate numbers."

About 300 new beds will be added to prisons by October, with a further 150 in use by next April.

Every weekend, suspected criminals are held in police cells nationwide because prisons are overcrowded.

Last weekend in the South Island, 30 prisoners facing charges including domestic assault, aggravated robbery and possession of firearms were held in police cells designed for recent arrests.

Worst affected was Dunedin police station, which housed 16 remand prisoners over the weekend.

Nine were held in Christchurch, three in Nelson and two juveniles in Invercargill.

In Wellington, eight remand prisoners spent the weekend in police cells.

Last Friday, three men escaped from Manukau District Court cells after they had been taken there for the night because of overcrowding in regional prisons.

Police Association Canterbury director Craig Prior said managing the mix of prisoners was difficult in police cells.

Officers could be dealing with remand prisoners, recent arrests, youths and female prisoners - all of whom had different needs and rights under the law, he said.

Last year, the Government approved funding of $125 million for 493 more prison beds.

The first 40 beds came into service last month and a further 300 beds will be ready progressively through to October.

Construction of the remaining 153 beds will be completed by April next year.

"These beds are additional to those already planned through four new regional corrections facilities," Mr McCarthy said.

The new 350-bed Northland prison officially opened in March and three further facilities will open over the next two years.

The 286-bed Auckland region women's prison is due to open in early 2006, followed by the 650-bed Spring Hill facility and the 335-bed Otago jail, both due to open in 2007.

In total, the new facilities will add more than 1600 beds to the prison system at a cost of $700 million.

When inmate numbers increased significantly about the middle of last year, the Corrections Department added 600 beds to the prison system by using its operational buffer (a measure built in to the system to cater for unexpected demand), along with disaster recovery beds and some double-bunking.

The latest Ministry of Justice forecast predicts inmate numbers to increase 15 per cent over the next five years.

- NZPA