Dear Department of Corrections,

CONTEXT OF REQUEST:

The new electronic monitoring system provided by private contractor - Buddi - was rolled out between February and August 2022 (https://fyi.org.nz/request/18901/respons...).

The Buddi supplied electronic monitoring device attached to a defendant or parole's leg is called a 'smart tag' and the portable charger that charges that smart tag is called an 'on body charger' (OBC). Part of the agreement that people subject to electronic monitoring must accept is that the smart tag will be charged for 2 hours every day via the OBC (https://fyi.org.nz/request/18901/respons...). The smart tag is the same for everyone, there is no longer different equipment for home detention as opposed to community detention (https://www.corrections.govt.nz/our_work...).

Prior to the 2022 phase out, '3M' was the provider of electronic monitoring equipment. There were two types of bracelets based on the conditions imposed: one was a combination of GPS and RF; the other bracelet was RF only.

I have been made aware that there has been a significant increase in the number of faults with the new Buddi equipment. Although, given that there have been previous reports of faulty equipment dating as far back as 2010 (https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/monit...), it is unclear whether these anecdotal reports are consistent with the number of historic faults.

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION:

Old System:
- Please provide the OIA response to DEBBIE PORTEOUS of the Otago Times from 2010 that was referenced in this article https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/monit....

In the 3 months of 2021, September, October, and November:
- On average, how many people were subject to EM at any one time?
- how many faults were recorded for EM equipment?
- please provide the quantities of each type of equipment (OBC, trackers, base station...) that was retuned for repair or to be sent back to the supplier. Please itemise each category of equipment; dates are not required, just quantities.
- how many times was EM equipment failed to be charge resulting in an alert in the monitoring system? RF bracelets did not require charging, so this request is inherently limited to those who were subject to EM equipment that required charging (EM Bail, Home detention, Parole).
- how many times was a prosecution launched for a breach of bail / parole / other form of breach such as a parole recall, result from those failures to charge? Please forward this portion of the request to the MOJ or Police should that be appropriate. In which case, it is likely that there may need to be collaboration.

New Buddi system:
In the 3 months of 2022, September, October, and November:
- On average, how many people were subject to EM at any one time?
- how many faults were recorded for EM equipment?
- please provide the quantity of each type of equipment (OBC, trackers, base station...) that was retuned for repair or to be sent back to the supplier. Please itemise each category of equipment; dates are not required, just quantitiess.
- how many times was EM equipment failed to be charge resulting in an alert in the monitoring system? RF bracelets did not require charging, so this request is inherently limited to those who were subject to EM equipment that required charging (EM Bail, Home detention, Parole).
- how many times was a prosecution launched for a breach of bail / parole / other form of breach such as a parole recall, result from a failure to charge trackers? Please forward this portion of the request to the MOJ or Police should that be appropriate. In which case, it is likely that there may need to be collaboration.

In regard to whether this request constitutes substantial collation or research, I note that a similar request was granted in 2010 following similar queries (https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/monit...). The material requested is also of significant public interest given the inherent human rights and access to justice implications of equipment that is used to mitigate risks of bail, serve sentences in lieu of custodial sentences, and monitor paroles. When this equipment fails, those rights have the potential to be unjustifiable limited.

Yours faithfully,
Mason.