C209335 OIA Response Letter.pdf

03 June 2026

    C209335

Hayden
[FYI request #33296 email]

Tēnā koe Hayden

Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request to the Ministry of Justice
(MOJ) of 16 December 2025, requesting various information. As you will be aware, on 26
January 2026 part of your request was transferred under section 14 of the OIA to the
Department of Corrections – Ara Poutama Aotearoa. Your request has been considered
under the OIA.

I would like to acknowledge the delay in responding to your requests for information under
the OIA. We always aim to adhere to legislative timeframes and I apologise that we have not
been able to do so on this occasion.

Please note that some questions have been re-arranged and/or combined for ease of
response. You requested:

I am writing to request information under the Official Information Act 1982 regarding
crime rates, justice system utilization, corrections costs, and their relationship to
economic conditions. This request focuses on whether the Ministry monitors and
analyzes economic drivers of crime and coordinates this information with economic
policy agencies.

3.  CORRECTIONS SYSTEM DEMAND AND COSTS

3.1 Prison Population Data
Please provide for 2015-2024:
•  Monthly prison population (total and per capita)

Corrections manages people on sentences and orders at the direction of the Courts and the
New Zealand Parole Board. Corrections does not determine whether a person is sentenced
to prison or the length of their sentence.

Please see attached as Appendix One, Sheet One, the total onsite prison population, as a
snapshot at each month end, from 31 July 2015 to 30 June 2025.

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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•  Average sentence length by offence type

Please see attached as Appendix One, Sheet Three, Table 1, the average imposed days per
year for fixed-term sentences in each financial year, broken down by index offence type.

•  Remand versus sentenced prisoner ratios

As noted, Corrections manages people on sentences and orders at the direction of the
Courts and the New Zealand Parole Board. Corrections does not determine who is
remanded in prison.

The number of prisoners on remand and the time spent on remand is influenced by a
number of complex factors, such as timely access to justice, capacity of the courts, and
Government policy settings.

Please see attached as Appendix One, Sheet Two, the total onsite prison population, as a
snapshot at each month end, from 31 July 2015 to 30 June 2025, broken down by custody
status and remand to sentence ratio.

•  Re-imprisonment rates (recidivism)

Corrections measures recidivism through the recidivism indices (RI). How RI is measured and
RI scores for the past ten years are published in our Annual Reports, which are publicly
available on our website here:
https://www.corrections.govt.nz/resources/strategic_reports/annual-reports. For example,
Corrections’ sentence figures for the 2024/25 are available on pages 29-32 of the 2024/25
Annual Report here:
https://www.corrections.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/64920/Annual_Report_2024-
2025.pdf.

As this information is available on our website, your request is refused under section 18(d)
of the OIA, as the information requested is publicly available.

3.2 Economic Circumstances of Prisoners
Please provide any Ministry analysis of:
•  Employment status of individuals prior to imprisonment
•  Benefit receipt history of prisoners
•  Educational attainment levels
•  Intergenerational patterns (children of prisoners becoming prisoners)
•  Whether prisoners come disproportionately from economically deprived
communities

While Corrections often records information about a prisoner such as their employment
status prior to their imprisonment, benefit status, and education level, other information,
such as whether the person’s parents were ever imprisoned, is not routinely recorded.
Where this information is held, however, it will be on individual prisoner files, and
Corrections does not centrally record this information in a readily reportable manner. In

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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. Therefore, this part of your
request is refused under section 18(f) of the OIA, as the information 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, as the
nature of the information requested is such that it cannot be provided without the manual
analysis of a significant number of individual files.

3.3 Cost per Prisoner
Please provide:
•  Average annual cost per prisoner (most recent year)

Corrections publishes the average cost of managing a person on the core sentence types,
including the average cost of imprisonment, per day, in our Annual Reports. The link to
these is provided above. For example, Corrections’ figures for the 2024/25 are available on
pages 40-42 of the 2024/25 Annual Report here:
https://www.corrections.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/64920/Annual_Report_2024-
2025.pdf.

Therefore, your request is refused under section 18(d) of the OIA, as the information
requested is publicly available.

•  Total annual corrections budget 2015-2024

Corrections publishes our annual budget in our Annual Reports. A link to these is provided
above. For example, Corrections’ budget figures for the 2024/25 are available on pages 13-
16 of the 2024/25 Annual Report here:
https://www.corrections.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/64920/Annual_Report_2024-
2025.pdf

As this information is available on our website, your request is refused under section 18(d)
of the OIA, as the information requested is publicly available.

•  Projected corrections costs to 2030

Justice sector projections are released by the MOJ and not created by Corrections.
Therefore, we refer you to their justice sector projections which are publicly available on
their website here: https://www.justice.govt.nz/justice-sector-policy/research-data/justice-
sector-projections/.

As this information is available on the MOJ website, your request is refused under section
18(d) of the OIA, as the information requested is publicly available.

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•  Analysis of whether corrections spending growth is sustainable

Corrections faces many cost pressures as part of normal operations, these are first sought to
be managed within existing baselines through efficiencies or reprioritisation. If
unmanageable then active engagement is undertaken through the Budget cycle. The
Minister of Corrections’ Performance Plan is a process that has been used to identify and
estimate material cost pressures across the next four-year period along with the
implications of any available reprioritisation options to inform the Budget process.

As the cost pressures may be the subject of a future Budget, this information is withheld
under section 9(2)(f)(iv) of the OIA, in order to maintain the current constitutional
conventions protecting the confidentiality of advice tendered by Ministers and officials. If
any information on Budget bids is deemed in the public interest, it will be proactively
released.

In accordance with section 9(1) of the OIA, we have also considered countervailing public
interest relating to the release of the information, including transparency, and
accountability. We are satisfied that in this case, public interest considerations do not
outweigh the withholding reasons outlined above.

4.  REOFFENDING AND INTERGENERATIONAL CRIME

4.1 Recidivism Analysis:
Please provide:
• Reoffending rates within 1 year, 2 years, 5 years of release

As noted above, Corrections measures reoffending rates through the recidivism indices (RI)
which is measured in 12 months and 24 months timeframes. I again refer you to our Annual
Reports.

As information on 12 months and 24 months recidivism rates are publicly available, your
request is refused under section 18(d) of the OIA, as the information requested is publicly
available.

In relation to reoffending rates within five years of release, Corrections does not undertake
analysis of this timeframe. Therefore, this information does not currently exist in a form that
can be readily supplied to you and would instead require Corrections to initiate a project to
extract, analyse and present the data in the form requested. Therefore, this part of your
request is refused under section 18(g) of the OIA, as the information requested is not held
by Corrections, and we have no grounds for believing that it is held by another agency or
more closely connected with the functions of another agency.

• Analysis of factors predicting reoffending (unemployment, homelessness, lack of
support)
• Whether economic support upon release reduces reoffending
• Cost of reoffending versus cost of rehabilitation and support

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Corrections’ publishes research undertaken by Corrections on our website here:
https://www.corrections.govt.nz/resources/research.

There are a number of research papers on our research page that may be of use to you, for
example, but not limited to:
•  Women's Experiences of Re-offending and Rehabilitation, which is publicly available
here:
https://www.corrections.govt.nz/resources/research/womens_experiences_of_re-
offending_and_rehabilitation
•  About Time – Turning people away from a life of crime and reducing re-offending,
which is available here:
https://www.corrections.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0014/10652/abouttime.pdf
•  Reconviction Rates of Sex Offenders: Five year follow-up study, which is available here:
https://www.corrections.govt.nz/resources/research/reconviction_rates_of_sex_offe
nders

As Corrections’ analyses of reoffending predictors are publicly available, your request is
refused under section 18(d) of the OIA, as the information requested is publicly available.

4.2 Intergenerational Justice Involvement:
Please provide any Ministry analysis of:
• Children of prisoners: likelihood of future offending and imprisonment
• Whether children in Oranga Tamariki care show elevated justice involvement
• Whether poverty and welfare dependency predict intergenerational crime patterns
• Fiscal cost of intergenerational crime cycles

Corrections does not hold analysis on Intergenerational Justice Involvement and as this
request was transferred from MOJ to the most likely repository of this information, this part
of your request is refused under 18(g) of the OIA, as the information requested is not held
by Corrections, and we have no grounds for believing that it is held by another agency or
more closely connected with the functions of another agency.

4.3 Breaking the Cycle:
Please provide any Ministry analysis of:
• Cost-effectiveness of prevention versus incarceration
• Whether early intervention in high-risk families reduces long-term justice costs

I refer you to our response to question 4.1, and in particular the research document called
About Time – Turning people away from a life of crime and reducing re-offending, which, as
noted above, is publicly available on our website.

• Return on investment for social programs preventing crime versus managing
offenders

Corrections does not hold analysis on Intergenerational Justice Involvement and as this
request was transferred from MOJ to the most likely repository of this information, this part
of your request is refused under 18(g) of the OIA, as the information requested is not held

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by Corrections, and we have no grounds for believing that it is held by another agency or
more closely connected with the functions of another agency.

5.3 Māori Justice Outcomes:
Please provide:
• Māori imprisonment rates compared to general population

Corrections publishes quarterly prison statistics on our website, including prison population
by ethnicity. This information is available here:
https://www.corrections.govt.nz/resources/statistics/quarterly_prison_statistics

• Analysis of drivers of Māori overrepresentation in justice system
• Whether economic deprivation explains disparities

As mentioned above, Corrections’ research is published on our website here:
https://www.corrections.govt.nz/resources/research. The over-representation of Māori is
considered in many of our papers. For example, but not limited to:
•  Over-representation of Māori in the Criminal Justice System, which can be found
here: https://www.corrections.govt.nz/resources/research/over-representation-of-
maori-in-the-criminal-justice-system
•  What Works for Māori, which can be found here:
https://www.corrections.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/11801/What_Works_
for_Maori_final.pdf

• Cost-benefit analysis of addressing Māori economic inequality versus current justice
expenditure on Māori offenders

Corrections does not hold analysis on addressing Māori economic inequality versus current
justice expenditure on Māori offenders. As this part of your request was transferred from
MOJ and was also transferred to New Zealand Police, we hope that New Zealand Police may
be able to answer the above for you.

12. INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS

12.1 Imprisonment Rates:
Please provide:
• New Zealand's imprisonment rate compared to OECD countries
• Countries with lower imprisonment rates: their crime rates and approaches
• Cost comparison: NZ justice system versus more rehabilitation-focused countries

Corrections does not hold analysis on international imprisonment rate comparisons and as
this request was transferred from MOJ who we believe would be the most likely repository
of this information, this part of your request is refused under 18(g) of the OIA, as the
information requested is not held by Corrections, and we have no grounds for believing that
it is held by another agency or more closely connected with the functions of another
agency.

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Please note that while we do not hold the information you are specifically requesting,
Corrections does publish our research and analysis on our website here,
https://www.corrections.govt.nz/resources/research. Some articles in the Practice: The
New Zealand Corrections Journals will likely be of interest to you, for example, Where New
Zealand stands internationally: A comparison of offence profiles and recidivism rates, which
is available here:
https://www.corrections.govt.nz/resources/research/journal/volume_6_issue_1_july_2018
/where_new_zealand_stands_internationally_a_comparison_of_offence_profiles_and_reci
divism_rates.

Please note that Corrections is also aware of a website called World Prison Brief which
provides free access to information about prison systems throughout the world which you
may find useful - https://www.prisonstudies.org/about-world-prison-brief.

12.2 Best Practice
Please provide any Ministry analysis of:
•  International evidence on economic security and crime reduction
•  Countries that successfully reduced crime through social investment
•  Whether New Zealand could learn from Nordic models combining social welfare
and low crime

Corrections do not hold international evidence on economic security, social welfare and
social investment and crime rates. As this part of your request was transferred from MOJ
and was also transferred to New Zealand Police, we hope that New Zealand Police may be
able to answer the above for you.

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.

Ngā mihi

Alice Sciascia
Deputy Chief Executive
Strategy & Corporate Services