Additional Statutory Reporting Requirements

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The Department of Corrections is required to provide additional reporting at the end of each financial year under the Corrections Act 2004 and under the Parole Act 2002. These reports are provided as appendices to the Department’s Annual Reports.

Section 190 of the Corrections Act 2004

Section 190 of the Corrections Act 2004 prescribes particular issues that must be reported on in the Department’s Annual Report. These issues cover:

  • S190(1)(a) – reports on how the Chief Executive has carried out his functions under section 8(1)(k), of ensuring that processes are established and maintained to identify communities significantly affected by policies and practices in the corrections system, and giving opportunities for those communities to give their views on those policies and practices, and ensured those views were taken into account, together with information on how prison managers have carried out this responsibility.
  • S190(1)(b) – reports on the work undertaken by inspectors of prisons, including statistical information about the disposition of complaints and comment on issues arising from complaints or visits.
  • Section 190(1)(c)(d)(e) – reports on the processes and systems in place to supervise and control the monitoring of prisoner calls, including statistics on the proportion of prisoner calls monitored and the number and percentage of calls disclosed under section 117(1) and (2):
    • to any person other than an employee of the Chief Executive
    • to an employee of the Chief Executive
    • number of proceedings against a person for a disciplinary in which a recording of any
      of those calls was used in evidence.

      (Legislative authority for the Department to monitor prisoners’ telephone calls is provided under sections 111 to 122 of the Corrections Act 2004.)
  • Section 190(1)(f) – reports on measures to reduce drug and alcohol use by prisoners and the effectiveness of those measures, random-testing programmes and the results of those programmes.
  • Section 190(1)(g) – reports on the operation of every security contract in force for the whole, or any part, of the year to which the annual report relates, including:
    • a summary of reports forwarded to the Chief Executive under S171(2) and (3)
    • a summary of reports made to the Chief Executive under S172(2)(b)
    • a summary of actions taken in relation to the operation of security contracts as a result of matters raised in any report forwarded.
  • Section 190(1)(h) – reports on the operation of any contract prison, including a summary of reports by the manager of the contract prison, including:
    • a summary of reports forwarded to the Chief Executive under S214(2) and (3)
    • a summary of reports made to the Chief Executive under S215(2)(b)
    • a summary of actions taken in relation to the management of contract prisons as a result of matters raised in any report forwarded.

With regard to the report required under section 190(1)(b) above, the Corrections Inspectorate is established under the provisions of section 28 of the Corrections Act 2004 as a dedicated complaints resolution, investigation and assurance function, reporting directly to the Chief Executive independently of operational line management. The legislation acknowledges the high level of risk attached to prison management and the need to provide a level of legislative prescription, protection and access for the Chief Executive’s assurance agents in matters related to sentence management, and imprisonment in particular.

Section 15a of the Parole Act 2002

Section 15A(4) of the Parole Act 2002 requires the Department of Corrections to include in its Annual Report information about the use of electronic monitoring. The information required covers:

  • the number of offenders who were at any time subject to electronic monitoring
  • the average number of offenders who were subject to electronic monitoring and the average duration of the monitoring
  • the percentage of offenders who, while subject to electronic monitoring (other than as a standard detention condition while on home detention), were convicted for a breach of the condition, or convicted of any other offence, or recalled to prison under an interim recall order or a final recall order
  • a description of processes and systems relating to electronic monitoring that were in place during the year reported on.