Wellbeing and Innovation in Aotearoa New Zealand Prisons - Part I

 An Introduction to the Contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand Justice System

In contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand, justice and social service organisations play a significant role in our society.  The Justice sector of government incorporates; Ministry of Justice, SCO, Ara Poutama Aotearoa (Corrections), Oranga Tamariki, Police, Ministry of Justice & Crown Law along with many other smaller organisations and entities.     

Correctional facilities (Prisons) form one part of the wider Justice and Corrections system and residential units are one part of the Correctional Facility system.  Figure 1 shows the different Justice steps and pathways including Prison.  Residential prison units are where people in prison live and consequently where many Custodial Officers and other ‘civilian’ prison staff spend time working. 

Figure 1 - Depicting the Justice pathways (Source: NZ MoJ Justice Sector Report: Prison Population Projections 2019 - 2029) 

Prisons are operated by Ara Poutama Aotearoa Department of Corrections (the Department).  The Department is an integral part of the justice sector and works closely with other Justice agencies with over 10’000 staff.  It has a Custodial function which operates 18 Prisons housing just under 8000 people (as of November 2021), with onsite health service clinics and teams as part of the healthcare sector.  The Department partners with a range of other entities such as iwi, hapū, community groups, councils, non-profit organisations and other government agencies.  It also has a Community Corrections function with a Case management and Probation service, incorporating over 160 local offices, and which link in as part of the wider Social Sector (along with WINZ, MSD, Oranga Tamariki and other organisations).  

The scale of the prison population is mainly due to factors outside of Corrections control, including: Mental Health, Poverty, Unemployment, Lack of Housing, Addiction and Family and Sexual Violence along with the nature and function of policing and the courts.  Areas within Corrections control include the operation of the prison environment and culture along with provision of opportunities for education, rehabilitation and reintegration.

The Departments organisational strategy is Hōkai Rangi 2019-2024, which has a foundational purpose statement: “Kotahi anō te kaupapa: ko te oranga o te iwi; There is but one purpose to our work - the wellbeing of the people”.  Aotearoa New Zealand is a bi-cultural nation and Hōkai Rangi is a bicultural strategy.  The Hōkai Rangi narrative, framework and purpose statement are derived from Te Ao Māori and translated into English and operate within a justice system  largely derived from English Common Law.     

’Kotahi anō te kaupapa: ko te oranga o te iwi’; There is but one purpose to our work - the wellbeing of the people. This provides the basis for this paper’s two primary questions  

• How is wellbeing / oranga achieved within a New Zealand Correctional facility?

• What are the different cultural orientations for oranga / wellbeing?