17 December 2021
C140153
Moka Harris
[FYI request #16418 email]
Tēnā koe Moka
Thank you for your email of 16 August 2021, requesting information about the
number of breaches of parole and recalls over the last five years. Your request has
been considered under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA).
Corrections manages people at the direction of the Courts and the New Zealand
Parole Board (the Board). We do not determine who is in prison and who is in the
community. People on community sentences/orders must comply with any conditions
imposed on them by the Courts or the Board. Corrections actively manage the
compliance of people with their conditions and hold them to account if they breach
these conditions.
You requested:
1) Please provide me with the total number of breaches of parole conditions
per annum, as far back as 5 years. Please break this down by ethnicity
and gender.
Appendix One – Sheet One provides a table which contains the number of breaches
of parole where the person was found guilty and convicted or convicted and
discharged. The data is broken down by the financial year from 2016/17 to 2020/21,
and by outcome, gender and ethnicity.
Note that Corrections’ ethnicity records rely on self-reported information, and the
people we manage are not required to report their ethnicity. Individuals may also
declare more than one ethnicity. The data provided relates to the preferred recorded
ethnicity.
2) Please provide me with the total number of recalls to prison due to breach
of parole conditions per annum, as far back as 5 years. Please break this
down by ethnicity and gender.
3) Please provide me with the total number of recalls to prison in regards to
‘life sentenced inmates’ due to breach of parole conditions per annum, as far
back as 5 years. Please break this down by ethnicity and gender.
NATIONAL OFFICE, WELLINGTON
Mayfair House, 44 – 52 The Terrace, Wellington, 6011, Private Box 1206, Wellington 6140,
Phone +64 4 460 3000
www.corrections.govt.nz
2
People on parole can be recalled for multiple reasons, which can be summarised as
breaching conditions, re-offending or an increase in risk that the Board considers
unacceptable for continued parole.
Your request for
the total number of recalls to prison due to breach of parole
conditions and
the total number of recalls to prison in regards to ‘life sentenced
inmates’ due to breach of parole conditions cannot be provided without substantial
collation. The Board’s recall decisions are recorded in free text, and to identify this
type of information we would be required to manually review each decision.
Additionally, it would not suffice to count recalls where a breach is present, as the
breach may be minor in nature and inconsequential to the considerations of the
Board when making the decision to recall. Therefore, this part of your request is
declined under section 18(f) of the Official Information Act 1982 as the information
cannot be made available without substantial collation or research.
As per section 18B of the OIA, we have considered whether consulting you would
assist to make the request in a form that would remove the reason for the refusal.
However, we do not consider that the request could be refined in this instance.
Corrections can, however, provide the number of hearings where a recall was
approved, broken down by gender, ethnicity and if the individual was on a life
sentence or non-life sentence. An individual can be recalled multiple times within the
same financial year and therefore can be represented more than once in this data.
This information is attached as Appendix One – Sheet two.
Please note that this response may be published on Corrections’ website. Typically,
responses are published quarterly, or as otherwise determined. Your personal
information including name and contact details will be removed for publication.
I trust the information provided is of assistance. Should you have any concerns with
this response, I would 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
Rachel Leota
National Commissioner
