28703 (2025). Dr Tracey McLellan to the Minister of Corrections

28703 (2025). Dr Tracey McLellan to the Minister of Corrections: What steps, if any, has the Minister taken to address the additional cost pressures identified by Treasury in the Budget Economic and Fiscal Update 2025, such as prisoner upkeep and potential capital costs for additional capacity, if prison numbers are higher than anticipated?

Hon Mark Mitchell: I am advised that Corrections have been working hard to ensure there is sufficient fit-for-purpose capacity across the prison network in the short and long-term. This includes opening around 2,000 beds to the prison network since November 2023 and ensuring Corrections is using all existing prison network capacity effectively and efficiently. A further 722 beds are expected to be added by the end of 2025. Corrections is doing this by opening additional beds across the wider prison network and expanding the use of double bunking across some sites. The construction of the new facility at Waikeria Prison is complete. This will add 500 beds to the national prison network and an additional 96 beds in a mental health and addiction service this year. As I announced last year, a further 810 bed extension at Waikeria Prison is scheduled to be completed in late 2029. Budget 2025 also provided funding to build 240 new high security beds, alongside a new Health Centre and Intervention and Support Unit containing 52 beds, at Christchurch Men’s Prison. Subject to future funding approvals, the next phase of this redevelopment will build a further 240 new high-security prison beds. I am advised that Corrections continues to monitor the prison population in terms of actual growth and trends against those forecast Justice Sector Projections to inform any additional short, medium and longer term responses, including assessing operating and capital cost pressure implications. Corrections is actively managing its baseline funding highly effectively, as well as planning ahead to identify what capacity actions and funding support may be required to meet future population growth projections.