05 August 2025
C199279
C Lane
[FYI request #31330 email]
Tēnā koe
Thank you for your email of 17 June 2025 to the Department of Corrections – Ara Poutama
Aotearoa, requesting information about people applying to attend, or attending, Waitangi
Day celebrations while being monitored by Corrections. Your request has been considered
under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA).
Corrections manage people at the direction of the Courts and the New Zealand Parole
Board. We do not determine who is in prison and who is in the community. When a person
is subject to electronic monitoring, Corrections is responsible for managing their compliance
with any conditions imposed.
For ease of response, some of your questions have been answered together. You requested:
How many people if any, attended Waitangi Day celebrations at Waitangi while
under electronic monitoring via ankle bracelets or escorted/guiding release or not,
from the Department of Corrections care in the last 5 years?
How many people if any applied or sought permission to attend Waitangi while
under monitoring by the Department of Correction while in the Department of
Corrections care, in the last 5 years? How many of those were approved with in the
last 5 years?
Did any non Māori who are being monitored by Corrections apply for permission to
attend any Waitangi Day celebrations? Were any granted in the last 5 years?
How many people if any applied for permission to attend other Waitangi celebrations
throughout NZ while in the Department of Corrections care? How many were
successful? What prison regions were they from, and to attend where? In the last 5
years?
In regard to people in the community on electronic monitoring in Corrections’ management,
Corrections does not centrally record information on individuals who attended, or applied
to attend, Waitangi Day celebrations while on an electronically monitored sentence or
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
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order. Retrieving this information would require the manual assessment of the files of all
people in the community who are being electronically monitored by Corrections. In
accordance with the OIA, we have considered whether to affix a charge or extend the time
limit for responding. However, given the scale of the request we do not consider that this
would be an appropriate use of our publicly funded resources. Your request is therefore
refused under section 18(f) of the OIA, as the information requested cannot be made
available without substantial collation or research.
As per section 18B of the OIA, we have considered whether consulting with you would
enable the request to be made in a form that would remove the reason for the refusal.
However, we do not consider that the request can be refined in this instance.
If a person in prison was to be permitted to attend Waitangi Day celebrations, such an
application would be considered under Corrections Guiding Release policy. Individual
Corrections sites manually record data on applications for Guiding Release (known as
Guided Release before May 2025). According to searches of these records, there have been
no Guided Release or Guiding Release applications to attend Waitangi Day celebrations in
the last five years and so no attendance at Waitangi celebrations under Guided or Guiding
Release. Please note, because this data is manually recorded at and reported from each site,
this response is provided to the best of Corrections’ ability.
What rights does one have to meet eligibility for such requests?
In regard to the eligibility for people in prison to be permitted a Guiding Release, I refer to
Corrections’ previous response to you dated 13 June 2025 (our reference C196890).
As previously mentioned, Corrections manages people on community-based sentences or
orders at the direction of the Courts and the New Zealand Parole Board. When a person is
subject to electronic monitoring, Corrections is responsible for managing their compliance
with any conditions imposed.
Some people who are subject to electronic monitoring may require an absence to leave
their address. This allows an individual to leave their residence for a specific purpose and
period of time and is assessed and approved in advance. Absences can be approved for a
variety of reasons, such as, but not limited to, employment, rehabilitation programmes,
health matters, or other personal situations.
For an individual subject to home detention, for example, an absence is approved by their
probation officer. A number of factors are considered prior to granting a person an
approved absence, including their previous compliance with sentence conditions, assessed
risk, and the ability to monitor the person during their absence, for example, verification by
an employer or physical presence of a “sponsor” during the activity.
Other people on electronic monitoring can leave their address at times without requiring
the approval of their probation officer. Community detention, for example, restricts an
offender’s movements during their curfew. It requires an offender to remain at an approved
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residence at certain times specified by the court. Outside of their curfew hours, they can
leave their address at their discretion.
An individual subject to electronically monitored bail can request an absence to leave their
address by contacting Corrections’ EM Operations team, who review their conditions and
consider the absence request.
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 hope this information is helpful. I encourage you to raise any concerns about this response
with Corrections. Alternatively, you are advised of your right to raise any concerns with the
Office of the Ombudsman. Contact details are: Office of the Ombudsman, PO Box 10152,
Wellington 6143.
Nāku noa, nā
Sean Mason
Deputy Chief Executive
Communities, Partnerships and Pathways
