A prison inspector has rebuked jailers for advising inmates to relieve themselves on vehicle floors.

The Corrections Department has confirmed it is investigating a complaint about a staff member, said to be NZ First MP Asenati Lole-Taylor's husband Dennis Taylor.

Statistics show that the so-called "black sheep of the family" is neither rare nor endangered.

Finding escaped prisoner Stephen Maddren is now like finding a needle in a haystack, police concede.

The mother of escaped prisoner Stephen Maddren has made an emotional plea for her son to give himself up.

Police have fears for escaped prisoner who fled an Otago Corrections Facility wearing only trackpants and a top as 'hypothermic conditions' set in.

A man with a history of violent offending has admitted assaulting a senior Crown lawyer after escaping from security escorts while being led to courtroom cells.

The family of a man who was stomped to death by teenagers is shocked the ringleader has been running a Facebook page for two years - from his prison cell.

Prisoners will not be able to have more than three pieces of fruit a day in NZ jails, after a major riot was found to have been caused by inmates who were drunk on home-brewed alcohol.

Inmates moving through the country's new $300 million prison will be able to track their path to freedom.

Leigh Woodman has endured eight parole hearings within six years to fight to keep the man who murdered her 15-year-old daughter behind bars.

Police investigations into the death of an Otago remand prisoner have been stepped up following the involvement of New Zealand's police watchdog in the case.

Susan Couch would have been banned from suing the Probation Service under legislation which will give negligent public servants immunity from civil lawsuits.

A murderer serving a life sentence is not ready to be released says the Parole Board. But because he is a mental health patient, he has already been out into the community.

Editorial: Some policies aimed at quenching what politicians perceive to be a public appetite for fairness are recycled regularly even when they have been shown to be deeply flawed.

The sole survivor of an attack at an Auckland Returned and Services Association in which three people were murdered is poised to get a payout from the Corrections Department.

Prison bosses have admitted that they expected riots when they banned smoking in jails last year.

A woman visiting her partner in prison was trapped inside for more than three hours despite screaming out for guards and throwing a chair at a window to get their attention.