Whanganui Prison will carry out procedures with visitors to maintain physical distancing and hygiene practices. Photo / Bevan Conley
Whanganui Prison will carry out procedures with visitors to maintain physical distancing and hygiene practices. Photo / Bevan Conley
Whanganui Prison will "play it safe" as the Department of Corrections works towards operating to the full extent under Covid-19 alert level 2.
Corrections Services national commissioner Rachel Leota said operations at the 18 prisons across New Zealand will vary depending on security classification, the number of prisoners at eachprison and facilities.
Individual plans have been prepared at each prison to reintroduce activities, with face-to-face visits with family and friends resuming for prisoners at Whanganui Prison on Wednesday, May 20. Prison visits have been off-limits since alert level 4 began.
When visitors arrive at the prison, their details will be collected for contact tracing and they will be required to sanitise their hands and wear a face mask.
Leota said all visitors will be scanned by a thermal-imaging camera to check if they have a higher than normal body temperature. If they do have a high temperature, they will not be able to enter the prison.
Prison staff will also ask visitors about their current health and talk to them about the importance of abiding by good hygiene practices.
"We will be reducing the total number of visitors able to attend each visit session to enable physical distancing, but will also be increasing the total number of visit sessions and taking steps to ensure there is a fair and equitable process for allocating and managing all visits," Leota said.
In-person legal visits and New Zealand Parole Board hearings will be facilitated when requested. However, Leota said the continued use of phone or audiovisual link (AVL) options where possible was encouraged.
She said consideration had been given to restarting activities, given the staffing numbers required and the additional safety measures that need to be in place to mitigate the risk of Covid-19.
This means that not all activities will recommence immediately, or at the same time.
"We have undertaken careful planning, alongside our partners in the Justice sector and on the advice of Ministry of Health, to determine what operations can be safely resumed as New Zealand transitions to alert level 2."
Under alert level 4 all prison sites temporarily suspended private visits to the prison, guided and temporary release of prisoners and release-to-work activities.
Most Corrections staff working in the national office and regional offices will continue to work remotely. Photo / File
Under level 2 guided and temporary release of prisoners, including reintegration activities outside the prison, temporary removal, release to work activities, face-to-face rehabilitation programmes and non-essential prison industries, will resume where the prison can ensure the health and safety of everyone involved and that physical distancing can be maintained.
"Where it is safe to do so and operationally possible, we will resume education, employment, rehabilitation and constructive activities, with physical distancing maintained, so prisoners can spend additional time out of their cells and more time engaging with staff and other prisoners," Leota said.
All rehabilitation programmes and psychological interventions, including those delivered by contracted service providers, will resume when Community Corrections sites reopen if they cannot be delivered by phone or AVL.
She said staff will continue to assist people to source accommodation, undertake treatment and provide other practical support to prisoners with only a limited number of staff working from sites on a rostered system.
Home visits will continue where required, and where they can be carried out safely with the use of health screening, physical distancing and personal protective equipment (PPE).
Rehabilitation programmes and psychological interventions that cannot be delivered by phone or AVL, including those delivered by contracted service providers, will resume as Community Corrections sites reopen and activities can commence safely, with precautions in place.
Probation officers will contact people serving community work sentences to explain what this means for them in level 2.
All staff working with prisoners will continue to use PPE and the prison will also continue to separate current prisoners and prisoners coming into custody for their first 14 days.
With no confirmed cases of Covid-19 among prisoners at any of the 18 prisons, the wellbeing and safety of prisoners, staff and the public remained a priority, Leota said.
