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Submission on the Corrections (Management of Prisoners, and Prisoners’ Property) Amendment Bill

We oppose the provisions of this Bill relating to segregation and designated-management prisoners (DMPs).

The Bill permits conditions prohibited by the Nelson Mandela Rules

New Zealand is a member of the United Nations and adopted the revised United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules) in 2015.

The Nelson Mandela Rules define solitary confinement as confinement for 22 hours or more a day without meaningful human contact. They prohibit prolonged solitary confinement, defined as solitary confinement for more than 15 consecutive days.

This Bill claims to prohibit prolonged solitary confinement. However, it permits prisoners to receive as little as 10 hours of meaningful human contact over a 14-day period—less than one hour per day.

A prisoner could therefore spend more than 23 hours a day in isolation and still be considered compliant with New Zealand law.

That is not consistent with the purpose, intent, or standards of the Nelson Mandela Rules.

Expanding segregation while weakening protections

The Bill expands Corrections’ powers to segregate prisoners and creates a new designated-management prisoner regime that allows highly restrictive conditions for periods of up to two years.

While public safety is important, increased powers must be matched by stronger safeguards.

Instead, this Bill risks normalising long-term isolation under a different name.

Solitary confinement causes harm

The harmful effects of prolonged isolation are well documented. Extended segregation is associated with anxiety, depression, self-harm, psychological deterioration, and increased suicide risk.

A legal prohibition on solitary confinement is meaningless if prisoners continue to experience conditions that amount to solitary confinement in practice.

Recommendations

We urge the Committee to:

• Amend the definition of meaningful human contact to require genuine, regular face-to-face interaction.

• Increase the minimum human contact requirement significantly above 10 hours over 14 days.

• Introduce a hard statutory limit preventing any prisoner from being held in conditions amounting to prolonged solitary confinement.

• Require independent oversight and regular review of all extended segregation and DMP placements.

Conclusion

This Bill does not end prolonged solitary confinement. It redefines it.

New Zealand cannot claim compliance with the Nelson Mandela Rules while permitting prisoners to spend more than 23 hours a day in isolation for extended periods.

If Parliament is serious about protecting human rights and meeting New Zealand’s international obligations, the Bill must be amended to ensure that prolonged solitary confinement is genuinely prohibited, not simply renamed.

It is also time for New Zealand to reconsider the purpose of its corrections system. A justice system that relies on isolation and punishment is unlikely to reduce reoffending or improve community safety in the long term.

Our focus should move from a punitive model of incarceration to one centred on rehabilitation, reintegration, and restoration. Prisons should prepare people to successfully return to society, not leave them more isolated, traumatised, and disconnected than when they entered.

A safer New Zealand will not be achieved through harsher conditions or prolonged isolation. It will be achieved through a corrections system that prioritises rehabilitation, supports reintegration, and upholds the dignity and human rights of every person in its care.