A violent prisoner with an "appalling record" has avoided an indefinite jail term after cutting his gang ties and vowing to have his facial tattoos removed.

A cross-party letter to the Australian PM condemning his country's treatment of Kiwis detained on Christmas Island is to be presented in Sydney today.

The Government has confirmed plans to urgently pass laws which will allow it to impose parole-like conditions on ex-criminals deported from overseas.

Among young offenders, the rate of reconviction within five years after release is 91 per cent, much of which happens within the first 12 to 24 months, writes Jarrod Gilbert.

Almost 100 offenders have been issued final warnings under the country's "three strikes" law, but no offender has reached a third qualifying offence.

Labour MP Kelvin Davis says the NZ detainees he met in Australia's Christmas Island detention centre told him they are so frustrated they are thinking of rioting.

Dunedin's Methodist Mission has begun a literacy and numeracy programme at the Otago Corrections Facility.

A dismissed addiction counsellor says her case has exposed unsafe understaffing at the prison unit where she worked.

Firefighters have been called to a fire at Spring Hill Prison in the Waikato.

Turnbull's and Key's burning issue on their agenda is the detention and deportation of non-Australian citizens who have been convicted of crime.

Funding will be needed to help criminals settle in New Zealand after they are deported from Australia, Prime Minister John Key says.

An organisation that helps former prisoners reintegrate into society says it is buckling under the strain of helping deportees from Australia.

A $60,000 stash of drugs, tobacco, and cellphones that police say was destined to be smuggled into a Christchurch prison has been intercepted by authorities.

Rally organised after an inmate - who has been on hormone treatment to become a woman - was allegedly raped at the privately run prison.

A change to the rules which give media access to prison inmates is being considered.

The alleged rape of a transgender inmate has Corrections signaling a possible change to the way the prison system deals with those identifying as a different gender.

The rocker's appeal for a lighter sentence has been dismissed by the High Court.

A prisoner has died after a day on life support following a self-harm incident in Mt Eden prison, the Herald has learned.

Labour says private prison company Serco must be booted out after an alleged rape in a jail.

Despite money not growing on trees, gardening seems to be the most popular way for NZ's white collar criminals to while away the hours behind bars.

A police investigation has begun into claims that a prisoner was raped while locked in overnight at a privately run men's prison in South Auckland.

The sister of the man murdered by Phillip Smith says nobody has been properly held to account for his escape, and politicians were "all ducking their heads".

A chain of shortcomings allowed Phillip John Smith to escape to Brazil - and an overhaul of systems and information sharing between governments is needed.

New Zealand will get more information on criminals being deported from Australia under an information-sharing arrangement just signed.

There are close to 200 New Zealanders in Australian immigration detention centres. 406 have had their visas cancelled and 95 have already been sent home this year, writes Brian Rudman.

The Australian Government made non-citizens who had served more than a year in prison liable for deportation.

Greens parties in Australia and New Zealand are jointly calling on the Australian Government to stop the indiscriminate deportation of New Zealand offenders from Australia.

The incident occurred at Manawatu Prison. Two other staff were injured while disarming the prisoner.

A senior Corrections staffer has been sacked after allegedly having sex with a colleague on duty in an Auckland prison high security area.

An inmate found dead at Paremoremo prison has been checked by Corrections staff hourly.