Images from inside the Prisoners of Extreme Risk Unit (Peru) in Auckland Prison during a 2023 inspection. Photo \/ Office of the Inspectorate<\/p>\n
The Department of Corrections\u2019 commissioner of custodial services, Leigh Marsh, told the Herald maintenance work was now being done in the 18-cell unit to address feedback from the Ombudsman and Office of the Inspectorate reports, and \u201ccreate an environment that\u2019s less stark and therefore more conducive to rehabilitating prisoners and better for our staff\u201d.<\/p>\n
The work includes repainting the unit\u2019s visiting booths, entrance foyer, dayrooms, yards and cells for the first time since it was built in 2018.<\/p>\n
Corrections would not comment when asked about the cost of the project, but said the work was being funded from within its existing baselines as part of Budget 2025.<\/p>\n
The Herald understands Corrections has hired a commercial painting company to carry out the project \u2013 which involves inmates\u2019 cells being painted green and a wall in their adjoining individual yards being painted with a colourful \u201cgeometric design\u201d.<\/p>\n
Corrections says each of the 18 cells’ adjoining individual yards will be painted with the same geometric design. Photo \/ Department of Corrections<\/p>\n
Images provided to the Herald show an abstract landscape painted on a wall in the yard, where they are allowed to exercise for between three and six hours daily.<\/p>\n
\u201cStark environments can create barriers to prisoners engaging constructively with staff and in pro-social activities, which is why the work includes some walls having slighter brighter colours and small geometric designs and shapes such as triangles. There are no murals on the cell walls, but there is a basic painted design in the exercise yard attached,\u201d Marsh said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCreating brighter spaces and painting artwork within prisons, especially in areas frequently used by staff, visitors and prisoners, is common and something Corrections has done for many years in prisons.<\/p>\n
Inmates’ cells have been painted green in a bid to lift their “oppressive” surroundings. Photo \/ Department of Corrections<\/p>\n
\u201cThis work is typically carried out by prisoners to keep them engaged in constructive activities and help their rehabilitation. However, in this case, the security classification of the prisoners within the unit means it is not possible for them to carry out this work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inmates have been temporarily relocated to an empty cell within the same unit while their rooms have been painted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe safety and security of our prisons is our top priority, and prison environments can impact prisoners\u2019 willingness to take part in rehabilitation, and the levels of tension and aggression towards frontline staff and other prisoners,\u201d Marsh said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome prisoners in this unit will spend multiple years serving sentences in highly restrictive regimes while still needing to take part in programmes and activities that will support their rehabilitation and reintegration when they are eventually released.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Herald approached Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell\u2019s office for comment, but was referred to the Department of Corrections as it is an \u201coperational\u201d matter.<\/p>\n
\u2018Incredibly austere environment\u2019, convicted killer says<\/p>\n
Convicted killer turned motivational speaker Dr Paul Wood spent almost a year locked up in Paremoremo, which he told the Herald was \u201cwithout question\u201d New Zealand\u2019s toughest prison.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an incredibly austere environment. I do definitely think that is not good for mental health, resilience, ability to cope, any of those things,\u201d Wood said.<\/p>\n
He was housed in the prison\u2019s maximum security unit after pleading guilty to killing his drug dealer at the age of 18. The man attempted to sexually assault Wood before the teenager bludgeoned him to death with a baseball bat.<\/p>\n
Convicted killer turned motivational speaker Dr Paul Wood.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the paint and the mural creates greater visual diversity and different engagement, and there is research around this in terms of the impact on mood and behaviour.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, I would consider this stuff to be very much nice to do rather than some of the key things which are still massively underfunded in the system … It does have an impact [but] the biggest impact would be having more resources within Corrections devoted to rehabilitative programmes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wood said those who come from a normal, visually rich environment, like most people in New Zealand, would find it hard to grasp an understanding of what it\u2019s like inhabiting a truly austere environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s important that we sort of suspend our judgments on the impact that might have on us relative to someone who\u2019s actually been long-term deprived of any kind of visual variety or stimulation.\u201d<\/p>\n
He recalled that when he was first released from prison, he was overwhelmed when walking down a supermarket confectionery aisle because the colours were in contrast to the prison environment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Images from inside the Prisoners of Extreme Risk Unit (Peru) in Auckland Prison during a 2023 inspection. Photo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51,8446,8458,8278,8453,8452,8459,8449,8456,8455,3339,8454,8461,8444,3025,111,43,139,8451,69,8450,8457,8442,8448,8460,8462,8447,8445,61,8443,102,2963],"class_list":["post-6584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-auckland","tag-brenton","tag-colourful","tag-conditions","tag-criminals","tag-dangerous","tag-designs","tag-ease","tag-fresh","tag-getting","tag-housing","tag-including","tag-lift","tag-mosque","tag-most","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-notorious","tag-nz","tag-oppressive","tag-paint","tag-prison","tag-repainted","tag-shapes","tag-surroundings","tag-tarrant","tag-terrorist","tag-to","tag-unit","tag-with","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}