Vinetta Plummer
By email:
(1)
[email address]
(2)
[email address]
(3)
[email address]
(4)
[FYI request #16989 email]
29 October 2021
Dear Vinetta Plummer,
Official Information Act requests dated 1 October 2021
Thank you for your emails dated 1 October 2021, requesting:
1. Have any prisoners been released later than their expected release date during COVID Alert
Level 3 and 4 lockdowns? If so, how many times has this happened?
2. Please provide me with an excel spreadsheet of every scheduled parole hearing between 17
August 2021 and today’s date and whether these hearings were held on their scheduled
date. If not, please advise of the rescheduled date. I do not require the name of prisoners in
this information.
3. Please provide me with an excel spreadsheet with the expected release date and the actual
release date for each of these instances. I do not require the name of prisoners in this
information.
4. How many scheduled parole hearings have been delayed due to the Level 3 and 4
lockdowns?
Your request is being considered under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA).
In regard to your first and third aforementioned request (1), (3) these requests have been
transferred to the Department of Corrections on 11 October 2021 under Section 14(b)(ii) of the
Official Information Act 1982 as it is more closely connected with the Department’s functions.
Regarding your second and fourth requests (2), (4) the New Zealand Parole Board needs to extend
the timeframe of our response to your request by 10 working days, pursuant to section 15A(1)(b) of
the Official Information Act, as ‘consultations necessary to make a decision on the request are such
that a proper response to the request cannot reasonably made within the original time limit’. This
has come about as a result of the work required to keep hearings operating during lockdown.
Therefore, you can expect to receive a response as to your request by 12 November 2021.
Please be advised that should you have any concerns regarding this extension you have the right to
ask the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate our decision to extend the timeframe.
Contact details are: Office of the Ombudsman, PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143.
If you have any queries, please feel free to contact me dire
ct at [New Zealand Parole Board request email]
Yours sincerely,
Sophie Nicoll
Senior Advisor New Zealand Parole Board
