27 April 2021
C132538
Alastair Jamieson-Lane
[FYI request #14771 email]
Tēnā koe Alastair
Thank you for your email of 25 February 2021, requesting information about
custodial disciplinary hearings. Your request has been considered under the Official
Information Act 1982 (OIA).
You requested:
1) How many misconduct hearings were conducted within the New Zealand
corrections department between January 1st 2020, and the end of December
2020? (If information is more easily collated for some other recent 12 month
period, any 12 month time window in the past 3 years will do.)
2) If possible, in how many of these cases did the prisoner contact their legal
advisor for the purposes of preparing their defence?
3) In how many of these cases did the prisoner apply to have a legal adviser
represent them at the disciplinary or appeal hearing?
4) Of these requests, how many were granted, and subsequently led to
representation during the hearing/appeal? How many were declined?
5) Does there exists some form of Timetable/calender determining when
Visiting Justices will be available to administer hearings, and if so, how far in
advance is such a timetable scheduled? If such policies vary from prison to
prison, for the sake of concreteness, what policies apply in Christchurch
Men's prison.
(Note: exact lengths of time are not necessary for this question, I am primarily
interest in whether the schedule is planned months, weeks, days or hours in
advance).
6) In what manner, are the times/dates and locations of hearings
communicated to prisoners? When/how are they communicated to a prisoners
legal representative?
I am providing you notice that we have decided to release this information to you
however, it will take us some more time to prepare the information for release. We
will send you the information as soon as possible.
I trust the notice of this decision is of assistance. Should you have concerns with this
response, I encourage you to raise them with Corrections. Alternatively, you are
advised of your right to also raise any concerns with the Office of the Ombudsman.
Contact details are: Office of the Ombudsman,
PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143.
Ngā mihi
Robert Jones
Manager Ministerial Services
People and Capability
