11 November 2025
C204148
Sarah-Louise
[FYI request #32384 email] Tēnā koe Sarah-Louise
Thank you for your email of 24 September 2025 to the Department of Corrections – Ara
Poutama Aotearoa, requesting information on allegations of sexual assaults in women’s
prisons. Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA).
Assaults in prisons, whether against prisoners or frontline staff, are unacceptable.
Corrections staff come to work every day to keep New Zealanders safe. They deal with some
of New Zealand’s most challenging people, and do an exceptional and brave job in often
very difficult circumstances. Corrections offers support to anyone who alleges sexual assault
and ensures the person responsible is held to account; the processes may differ according to
the circumstances, as outlined below.
You requested:
number of alleged rapes and sexual assaults in women’s prisons for each of the last 5
years.
Please also provide a breakdown of who the alleged offender was (I.e prison officer,
another prisoner, other)
Allegations of sexual assault by prisoners on prisoners
We appreciate that for someone in prison, raising a concern about a sexual assault may be
very difficult, which is why there are a number of avenues for this available. When an
allegation of sexual assault is made by a prisoner, we act to ensure that the alleged victim is
safe, supported and that Police are notified. Support may be provided by staff, including a
health response if appropriate, a chaplain or other spiritual support person, a
kaiwhakamana or other cultural support person, senior staff or the person’s family and
friends.
Prisoners who commit sexual assaults against other prisoners are held to account through
the misconduct system, a change in security classification or a referral to Police for
investigation. Corrections does not decide whether charges are laid, this is the responsibility
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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of Police. We work closely with Police to ensure that they have access to all information and
evidence that may assist any criminal investigation they are undertaking.
Please note, for reporting purposes, cases of sexual assault are not further divided into
subcategories. It is important to note that the statistics we report on relate to allegations of
sexual assault, and not all instances are proven to have been assaults. Please see Table One
below, which provides the number of allegations of sexual assaults by prisoners on prisoners
in women’s prisons between the 2020/21 and 2024/25 financial years.
Table One: Allegations of sexual assaults by prisoners on prisoners in women’s prisons, for
the financial years 2020/21 to 2024/25
Prison
2020/21
2021/22
2022/23
2023/24
2024/25
Auckland Region Women's
1
-
-
-
-
Corrections Facility
Arohata Prison
-
-
2
2
1
Christchurch Women's
-
-
-
-
-
Prison
Total
1
2
2
1
Please note that data in the above table is based on the number of victims rather than the
number of incidents and it is specifically self-reported victims. For instance, if one prisoner
assaults two other prisoners in one incident, this is recorded as two alleged assaults.
However, this is contingent on the victims reporting it. This means that, if one prisoner
assaults two victims but only one victim alleges assault, this is recorded as one alleged
assault.
Allegations of sexual assault by prisoners on staff
Staff are encouraged to report all assaults, and we take all possible steps to support any
member of staff who has been the subject of a sexual assault. This can include supporting
them to report the assault to Police. When an incident occurs that involves serious potential
or actual harm to an employee, the Post Incident Response Team (PIRT) process is triggered.
The type of PIRT support provided will vary according to the situation and needs of the staff
concerned, but typically will involve:
• peer support briefing for all staff involved in the incident;
• individual peer support – individual discussions with an appropriately trained PIRT
team member;
• counselling support – individual support via an external qualified counsellor
(Employee Assistance Programme - EAP) for employees affected by an incident (and
family members as required). Counselling is not provided by any PIRT member;
• critical incident response – immediate external support and advice may be provided;
• trauma support – individual specialist trauma support counselling via referral from a
regional HR manager, EAP counsellor or the employee’s manager to an appropriate
external expert.
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The EAP is a service available to all Corrections staff and their families free of charge. EAP is
a confidential service provided by an independent company and is delivered by qualified,
registered and highly experienced professionals. EAP services provide brief, solution focused
support to staff and families to help deal with any difficulties and minimise their impact on
people’s lives. More information about EAP available to Corrections staff can be found at:
https://instep.nz/. Corrections also has staff welfare coordinators who support peoples’ rehabilitation needs
when a significant event has taken place and when staff or their family need more intensive
support. Staff welfare coordinators provide extremely valuable support, but they are not
trained counsellors. Therefore, staff are also encouraged to seek help from their general
practitioner (GP), Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora or a Community Mental Health
Team, as required. Should a staff member require more in-depth mental health care, the
local staff welfare coordinator can assist the staff member with this process and will check
in with them regularly.
Please see Table Two below, which provides the number of allegations of sexual assaults by
prisoners on staff in women’s prisons between the 2020/21 and 2024/25 financial years.
Table Two: Allegations of sexual assault by prisoners on staff in women’s prisons, for the
financial years 2020/21 to 2024/25
Prison
2020/21
2021/22
2022/23
2023/24
2024/25
Auckland Region Women's
1
-
-
-
-
Corrections Facility
Arohata Prison
1
1
-
-
1
Christchurch Women's
2
1
-
3
-
Prison
Total
4
2
-
3
1
As noted for Table One, the data in the table above is based on the number of self-reported
victims rather than the number of incidents.
Allegations of sexual assaults by staff on prisoners
Corrections employs around 11,000 staff, the majority of whom work on the frontline,
including in prisons, and the overwhelming majority of our people act with integrity,
honesty and professionalism in what is often a high pressure and challenging environment.
Corrections expects the utmost professionalism from our employees. All employees are held
to a high standard of integrity and professionalism and must act as role models for the
people and communities we work with. All staff are expected to meet the expectations set
out in Corrections’ Code of Conduct, which is available at:
www.corrections.govt.nz/about_us/who_we_are/our_privacy_commitment/our_code_of_c
onduct.
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Significant emphasis is placed on our high standards for conduct and integrity throughout
our recruitment and selection processes. We provide extensive training and development
for our frontline staff to ensure that they can meet the demands placed on them, and we
have a number of measures to ensure that integrity is well-established in our workplace
culture.
When staff do not meet the standards required of them, we take the appropriate action.
The IR.07 procedure applies in the event of an allegation against a prison staff member at a
prison site, the purpose of which is to ensure all allegations are appropriately addressed, in
a fair, timely and effective manner. Corrections takes allegations against staff extremely
seriously, and any allegation can be referred to a formal employment investigation or the
Police at any time.
In regard to your request for allegations of staff-on-prisoner sexual assaults, we can provide
you with information on allegations of staff-on-prisoner sexual assault from our IR.07/staff
allegation database.
Please see Table Three below, which provides the number of allegations of sexual assaults
by staff on prisoners in women’s prisons between the 2020/21 and 2024/25 financial years.
Table Three: Allegations of sexual assaults by staff on prisoners in women’s prisons, for the
financial years 2020/21 to 2024/25
Prison
2020/21
2021/22
2022/23
2023/24
2024/25
Auckland Region Women's
-
1
9
11
21
Corrections Facility
Arohata Prison
1
3
3
6
5
Christchurch Women's
1
-
4
7
-
Prison
Total
2
4
16
24
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Please note that, for the allegations in Table Three, a function was introduced to the
prisoner kiosks during the 2022/23 financial year enabling people in prison to submit
allegations against staff directly. The increase in the number of allegations from 2022/23
appears to be related to the availability of this function. The overwhelming majority of these
allegations have closure codes indicating they were entered in error, withdrawn by the
complainant, referred to a different complaints process (due to not relating to misconduct
by a staff member), or not upheld. This is supported by the recent introduction of a
‘prisoner narrative’ in the kiosks in which a complainant must provide some detail of their
allegation. These narrative accounts indicate that many of these allegations of sexual assault
by a staff member are not in fact related to sexual assault and not allegations at all.
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.
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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.
Ngā mihi
Leigh Marsh
Commissioner Custodial Services
