Double bunking reduces aggression - Corrections

New double bunking facilities in prisons are apparently helping to soothe the tempers of aggressive inmates. File photo / NZ Herald

New double bunking facilities in prisons are apparently helping to soothe the tempers of aggressive inmates, says the Corrections Department.

As part of an extended double bunking project in the past year, the department added nearly 900 new beds to Waikato's Spring Hill Corrections Facility, Otago Corrections Facility, Northland Region Corrections Facility and Auckland Region Women's Corrections Facility.

Otago custodial systems manager Colin Ropiha said the new beds had been working well since their introduction eight months ago.

"Some prisoners requested they be doubled bunked with others they feel are role models to them or that they can get along well with," he said.

"It has made some of them less aggressive and less contentious."

Spring Hill manager Gavin Dalziel also said there were advantages to having prisoners together.

"They can assist each other to cope with the fact that they are incarcerated. So if you have got someone who is prone to anxiety, you can have someone in there, a cellmate, who can keep an eye on them."

The introduction of extended double bunking was staunchly opposed by the prison officers' union, the Corrections Association, which argued that the move breached its collective agreement.

However, the union lost an employment court challenge in December, and an appeal in May, over the issue.

The department said all prisoners who were double bunked had been carefully assessed, and that staff to prisoner ratios had remained the same.

- NZPA