All of this comes with overcrowding,
tight budgets and a growing gang and meth problem.
NZ Herald senior reporter Derek Cheng told The Front Page that at the moment, the prison population is at an all-time high.
“It’s just under 10,900. The last time it was more or less the same population number was back in March 2018,” Cheng said.
“Just looking at the data as well, there are more ‘category three’ sentences coming through the courts and they are the more serious offences punishable by at least two years in prison. So there is definitely a truth about the complexity of the average prisoner,” he said.
The latest Corrections data show 1558 prisoner-prisoner assaults in the 2024-25 year, and 1080 prisoner-staff assaults.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
- The complex prison population
- Staffing and budget pressures
- Double-bunking in recent years
- Corrections and the Budget.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
